‘in the southern Coastal Plain, the surplus growth in 
| the softwood drain to these species. While oak lumber, 
I for instance, is not a substitute for pine lumber, the 
| hardwood 
| operators to cut oak instead of pine. Such markets might 
lumber would encourage small sawmill 
include plants making short length packaged lumber 
such as milpack. 
| Also, the adverse effects of heavy concentrations of 
| drain in the southern Coastal Plain on the productivity 
of the stands could be reduced by transferring some of 
| the softwood saw-timber drain to the northern Coastal 
|) Plain, where cutting is not nearly as heavy. 
Yet as long as the demand for timber continues at 
|the 1946 level, there is little chance of completely 
eliminating overcutting of softwood saw timber in the 
Coastal Plain. However, if enough shifts in the drain 
could be made to reduce overcutting to 50 million board 
| feet a year, the damage to the growing stock would be 
| greatly diminished. This would mean a reduction in 
) growing stock volume of about 8 percent over the next 
20 years. By that time, greater growth resulting from 
expected better forestry practices should more than 
offset overcutting. 
In the Piedmont, overcutting of saw timber is far 
| more serious, With saw-timber growing stock already 
33 percent short of needs, 1946 drain exceeded growth 
by 68.9 million board feet. The softwoods were overcut 
by 66.6 million board feet, the soft hardwoods by 13.4 
| million, while the hard hardwoods increased. 
The surplus of pole timber offers the greatest oppor- 
tunity to ease the drain on saw timber. In 1946, of the 
| 290.5 thousand cords of pine cut for pulpwood, 197.4 
thousand cords were cut from saw timber, The excess 
| growth in softwood pole timber amounted to 163 
thousand cords. Another 134 thousand cords per year 
| can be taken from the excess pine pole timber growing 
| stock for the next 20 years without jeopardizing efforts 
to build up saw-timber growing stock. If no saw-timber 
| trees were cut for pulpwood, pine saw-timber growth 
would exceed drain. A complete shift to pole timber 
| may not be practical. However, cutting no trees above 
11.0 inches for pulpwood would result in reducing the 
| drain on saw timber by 53 million board feet, while at 
the same time meeting pulpwood drain. 
| Timber Supply Outlook in South Carolina 
Another saving in saw-timber volume could be 
accomplished by shifting the lumber drain to the larger 
diameters. Because a large part of the volume of small 
trees consists of tops, slabs, and sawdust, a cord of 
wood from 18-inch trees will yield about 45 percent 
more lumber than a cord from 10-inch trees. For 
instance, if the lumber cut from 9- and 10-inch trees 
in the Piedmont in 1946 had been cut from larger 
trees, the yield in lumber would have been greater by 
about 6.5 million board feet. 
Use More Cull Hardwoods and Mill Waste for 
Fuel Wood 
A shift in the kind of timber cut for fuel wood offers 
still another opportunity to ease overcutting. In 1946, 
267 thousand cords of softwood pole timber and 103 
thousand cords (39 million board feet) of softwood 
saw timber were cut for fuel wood in South Carolina. 
Total drain on the hardwood pole timber amounted to 
609 thousand cords, 235 thousand cords more than 
growth. Eighty-seven percent of this drain went into 
fuel wood, most of it for tobacco curing. Cull hard- 
woods in the State amounted to 28,846 thousand cords. 
More of this kind of material could be used for fuel 
wood instead of the classes of timber already overcut 
and in short supply. Also, in 1946, nearly a million 
cords of slabs’ and edgings were produced in South 
Carolina and only about 7 percent of this volume was 
used for domestic fuel wood and tobacco curing. Here 
is an instance where the sawmill industry can help 
materially in building up its future supply of timber 
through industry-wide effort to market more slabs 
and edgings for fuel wood. 
GUIDE DEVELOPMENT OF FOREST INDUSTRIES 
A prerequisite to building up the growing stock and 
eventually bringing growth and drain in balance is the 
discouragement, temporarily at least, of any further 
expansion of forest industries which would compete 
with existing industries for timber in short supply. 
Any new industry which would increase the drain 
pressure on pine or the soft hardwoods should be 
discouraged. 
However, there is room for new industries. In 1946, 
there was a surplus growth of oaks and other hard 
hardwoods of 86.6 million board feet. This would 
support, for instance, a number of plants to cut the 
clear pieces from rough hardwood lumber produced by 
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