above the postwar level. Thus, unless adjustments are 
made in the present drain pattern, further reductions in 
growing stock will probably take place, especially in 
the softwood saw-timber volume in the Piedmont and 
southern Coastal Plain, and in all pole timber through- 
out the Coastal Plain. 
FoREST GROWTH FAR SHORT OF POTENTIAL 
South Carolina has plenty of forest land to grow the 
timber it needs. In 1947, the area of commercial forest 
land was 11.9 million acres, 11 percent more than in 
1936. The greatest increase occurred in the Piedmont, 
where a large amount of former agricultural land has 
reverted to forest. 
Under reasonably good forest management, this 11.9 
million acres could easily grow half again as much 
timber 5.0 inches and larger, and nearly twice as much 
saw timber as at present. The Forest Survey reveals 
some of the reasons why productivity is so low. Four 
and a half million acres, or 40 percent of the total 
forest area, is less than 40 percent stocked; 14 percent 
is under 10 percent stocked. 
A shortage of certain sizes of timber also contributes 
to low productivity. Saw timber is deficient throughout 
the State, but is especially so in the Piedmont. The 
Coastal Plain has a slightly better supply of saw timber, 
but shows a marked deficiency of both hardwood and 
softwood pole timber. In saplings, there is a deficiency 
of softwoods and a surplus of hardwoods. 
About three-fifths of the timber South Carolina uses 
is pine. The ability of the forests to meet the demand 
for pine is seriously threatened by the steady decline 
in the proportion of pine in the State. Since 1936, the 
area of hardwood types has increased considerably, while 
the area of pine types has decreased. At the same time, 
hardwood volumes have decreased less than pine. 
Improving the productivity of the stands is made 
especially difficult by the high proportion of cull trees, 
mainly hardwoods, in the stands. A fifth of the live 
trees in the State are culls. Cull-tree volume, mainly 
hardwoods, now makes up 20 percent of the total cubic- 
foot volume, compared to 11 percent in 1936. Also 
reflecting a general down-grading in quality of timber, 
the average volume per saw-timber tree has declined 
from 123 board feet in 1936 to 105 board feet in 1947, 
a reduction of 15 percent. As the best stands are cut 
and the best trees in the stand are removed, the propor- 
tion of short-boled, poor-form, and highly defective 
trees continues to rise. 
TIMBER GROWTH SHOULD BE INCREASED 
To meet current needs, plus a margin for normal 
industrial expansion and unforeseen demands upen the 
forest, South Carolina should plan a 23-percent increase 
in total growth of all sound trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and 
larger. This would approximate South Carolina’s share 
of the national growth goal as estimated by the U. S. 
Forest Service (15). It is estimated that South Carolina 
should plan to grow 1,865 million board feet, compared 
with current growth of 1,457 million board feet. Soft- 
wood growth should be increased by 40 percent, while a 
6-percent increase in hardwoods would be sufficient to 
meet growth goals. Increases in hardwood growth should 
be confined to the gums, soft maples, and yellow-poplar, 
where the gap between growth and drain is almost as 
great as that in the softwoods. 
No increase in pole-timber growth is needed in the 
Piedmont. However, substantial increases are necessary 
in the Coastal Plain in order to provide enough pole 
trees to maintain the saw-timber growing stock required 
for achieving the saw-timber growth goals. 
THE Way Out 
The measures needed to increase the timber yield in 
South Carolina include changes in the amount of timber 
cut by species, size, and locality, planning for and guid- 
ing the development of forest industries, better timber- 
growing practices, and a stepped-up planting program. 
Adjust Pattern of Timber Harvesting 
As long as the demand for timber continues at the 
1946 level, it will not always be possible to eliminate 
overcutting completely by making shifts in commodity 
drain. However, without exception, further damages to 
the growing stock can be reduced. For example, over- 
cutting of the softwood saw timber in the southern 
Coastal Plain could be eased by shifting some of this 
drain to the northern Coastal Plain, where cutting is 
not nearly so heavy. Also, local markets for rough 
hardwood lumber in the Coastal Plain would permit 
some of the small sawmills to shift to cutting oak 
instead of pine. 
Also, further overcutting of the already short supply 
of pine pole timber throughout the Coastal Plain can 
be largely eliminated by making a greater use of tops 
and thinnings for pulpwood, and by shifting some of 
the pulpwood cutting to the pole timber in the Piedmont. 
‘Italic numbers in parentheses refer to Literature Cited, p. 58. 
2 Forest Resource Report No. 3, U. S. Department of Agriculture 

