UTILIZATION OF ELM. 11 
total amount of elm used is white elm, and it is probable that the 
proportion of the stand does not differ greatly from this figure. 
This would place the stand of white elm at about five and one-half 
billion feet. 
No estimate can be made of the stand of slippery elm. It is cut in 
the same region as white elm. The trees are scattered throughout 
the forest, and the lumber is manufactured and placed on the market 
mixed with white elm. The stand of cork elm is likewise unknown. 
On account of its limited distribution and the heavy demand upon 
the supply it is rapidly diminishing. 
The supply of wing elm and cedar elm is small, and these species 
are of commercial importance only in small restricted areas. Wing 
elm is evidently fairly abundant in certain locations, since an annual 
use of approximately a million feet has been reported in Texas, and 
probably more than that is used in each of the States of Missouri, 
Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The stand of cedar elm is 
even less than that of wing elm, and it is used for local manufacturing 
purposes only. The wing and cedar elm trees are not usually larger 
in diameter than 2 feet, and the cedar elm is inclined to become 
shrubby in situations unfavorable for its growth. 
LUMBER CUT. 
The present output of elm lumber is about 240,000,000 board feet 
annually. This puts elm twentieth in rank among all woods and 
tenth among hardwoods in point of lumber production. 
For the past 10 years elm has constituted between 3 and 3^ per cent 
of the total amount of hardwood lumber manufactured in the United 
States and between 1 and 2 per cent of the total of all woods. The 
amount of lumber cut does not represent the entire amount of wood 
used, since many woods are utilized by different industries largely in 
the form of the log or billet, and the amount so used is not reported 
as lumber. This is true to a certain extent of elm. Table 4 gives the 
production of elm lumber for different years by States. According to 
these figures, the production of elm lumber is decreasing rapidly. 
Nearly 347^ million feet were reported in 1909, about 262 million feet 
in 1912, and a little less than 178 million feet in 1915. However, there 
has not been a reduction in cut to the extent indicated by these figures, 
since the returns for years subsequent to 1909 are incomplete. This 
is shown by the computed total cut for 1916 of 240,000,000 feet. 
Table 5 shows the number of mills reporting elm for different years. 
Wisconsin and Michigan have been the leading States in the produc- 
tion of elm lumber for the last decade. There has been a decided 
decrease in production in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 
and Missouri. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, on the other 
hand, have been producing increasing amounts. In Kentucky and 
Tennessee the production has been rather constant. 
