REGION AND 
SPECIES GROUP INCREASE DECREASE 
SOUTH. COASTAL PLAIN 
SOF TWOODS 
SOFT HARDWOODS 
HARD HARDWOODS 
ALL SPECIES 
NORTH. COASTAL PLAIN 
SOFTWOODS 
SOFT HARDWOODS 
HARD HARDWOODS 
ALL SPECIES 
PIEDMONT 
SOF TWOODS 
SOFT HARDWOODS 
HARD HARDWOODS 
ALL SPECIES 
SOUTH CAROLINA 
SOF TWOODS 
SOFT HARDWOODS 
HARD HARDWOODS 
ALL SPECIES 
100 50. 
FIGURE 40.— Net change in 
Saw-timber growing stock, 
1946. 
MILLION BOARD FEET 
Net growth of hard hardwood saw timber (oaks, 
etc.) exceeded drain throughout the State. 
Also on the plus side was the excess growth over drain 
hickories, 
for all species groups in the northern Coastal Plain. 
An unfavorable balance of growth and drain may 
result from either a high drain intensity'® or a low 
growth ratio,'* or both. In many instances high growth 
ratios are offset by still higher drain intensities. In 
1946, softwoods were growing at a rate of 53 board 
feet per thousand feet of growing stock; hardwoods 
were growing at a rate of 44 board feet. But softwoods 
were being used at a rate of 60 board feet compared to 
a hardwood drain intensity of only 38 board feet. 
“Drain intensity is the volume of annual commodity drain 
per unit of growing stock. 
“Growth ratio is the volume of annual growth per unit of 
growing stock. 

Softwood saw-timber drain intensities are especially 
high in both the southern Coastal Plain and the Pied- 
mont, where this class of timber is declining most 
rapidly (fig. 41). In the Piedmont, softwood saw timber 
is growing at the rate of 58 board feet per thousand 
feet of growing stock but is being cut at a rate of 
73 board feet. Drain intensity in the southern Coastal 
but so is the growth ratio. 
is 68 board feet and the 
growth ratio only 50 board feet. 
The favorable in the 
northern Coastal Plain is the result of comparatively 
Plain is somewhat lower, 
Here the drain intensity 
growth and drain balance 
light drain intensity rather than high growth ratios 
(fig. 41). Hard hardwoods and soft hardwoods grow 
at about the same rate but the drain intensity on the 
32 Forest Resource Report No. 3, U. S. Department of Agriculture 


