Principal Uses op The Forest. 



27 



The production for this section, as reported in 1914, was 56,787 tons. 

 Since the trees cut for mine props are also of a suitable size for saw 

 timber, the two uses are competing, and the length of haul is generally 

 the determining factor. The mine props cannot be hauled profitably 

 for as great a distance as lumber, and therefore where the haul ex- 

 ceeds three miles the product generally goes into saw timber instead 

 of mine props. 



The other section of the State Avhere the cutting of mine props is 

 an important business is in the vicinity of the coal fields in western 

 Maryland. The mine prop output coming from the three westernmost 

 counties, Garrett, Allegany and Washington, amounted in 1914 to 

 46,550 tons. The props used, however, in the coal mines of western 

 Maryland are very different from those produced in the southeastern 

 part of the State, particularly in the size of the trees cut for the pur- 

 pose, and that all species of suitable size are cut. Round props, meas- 

 uring four inches at the top and varying in length from eight to 

 twelve feet, are required, and a great variety of wood is used. In the 

 logging operations here the very small trees, left after lumbering for 

 saw timber or for railroad ties, are cut into mine props which are sold 

 at a price little more than covering the cost of production and freight, 

 with little, if any, allowance for stumpage value. 



A few of the large-sized mine props are cut in southern Maryland 

 from Scrub Pine, but they form a very small per cent of the total pro- 

 duction for the State. 



Tan Bark. — Tan Bark was produced in seven of the western and 

 central counties of the State in 1914, the total production being 

 34,360 tons, valued at $253,510. Of this, hemlock constituted nearly 

 two-thirds of the total production, oak, principally chestnut oak, 

 the remainder. The amount of bark produced in this section 

 was very much greater a few years ago, but with the exhaustion of the 

 main timber supplies the production of bark has decreased with that 

 of lumber, of which it may be termed a by-product. There are now 

 three large tanneries in the State, and a few small ones, which receive 

 most of their supply of bark from Maryland. For the past twenty 

 years there has been a sharp decline in this industry, due to the rapid 

 exhaustion of chestnut oak and hemlock timber supplies. 



Staves and Heading. — This represents a production of 30,389,019 

 pieces valued at $223,931, and reported from five counties. About 

 half of the number were barrel staves and headings, the remainder 

 keg staves and headings. Pine constituted nine-tenths of the wood 

 used, and of the remainder, consisting of several species, chestnut was 

 the most important. The barrel staves were principally for oyster and 

 vegetable containers, the bulk of them being used locally, while prac- 



