56 BULLETIX 124:1, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of pulp timbers. They contain nearly 178 million acres of forest land. (Table 
46.) The States of this region have, since the passing of white-pine supremacy, 
led the country in lumber production, but the cut of pulp-wood timber ha 
always been insignificant. In 1920 it reached only about 440,000 cords, not 
including slabs and waste. The virgin stands which have largely supplied the 
lumber cut of the past are fast disappearing. 
SPRUCE AXD HARDWOOD PULP WOOD. 
Less than 10 million cords of the total stand are of the spruce-fir-hemlock: 
group, the stands of which are very heavy and occupy a relatively limited area. 
on the higher slopes of the southern Appalachian Ranges. These stands, while 
of great present value, have much less significance in an enlargement of the 
existing industry or the development of a permanent pulp and paper industry 
than similar amounts of the same species in either New England, New York, or 
the Lake States. The possibility of reproducing these forests is much less 
certain, so that no safe prediction can be made as to their future as sources of 
pulp-wood supplies. 
Various soda-pulp species — cottonwood, birch, beech, maple, yellow poplar, 
basswood, and red, black, and tupelo gums — are scattered over an enormous 
territory and aggregate 335 million cords. The remaining virgin stands are 
chiefly in the lower Mississippi bottom lands and along the Gulf coast. A large 
part of the other hardwood stands have been more or less heavily and repeatedly 
cut over in the past. Considerable areas are now chiefly valuable for fuel or 
pulp wood. While cutting far exceeds growth, there are undoubtedly many areas 
from which a large volume of pulp material could be taken as thinnings and 
improvement cuttings, and in fact its removal might be made to constitute one 
step toward better forest management. It should easily be possible to take care 
of our present shortage of 196,000 cords of soda-pulp-wood timber from this 
territory if proper methods of forest management begin with the cutting, and 
to enlarge this at the rate of 23,000 cords a year to absorb our increasing needs 
for years to come. Relatively small areas could, if worked for pulp timbers 
alone, be made to produce the entire volume required. 
PIXE PULP WOOD FOR SULPHATE PULP. 
Three-fourths of the pulp stand consists of various species of southern yellow 
pine, amounting to about 940 million cords. (Table 61.) Under present pulping 
processes it is being utilized almost exclusively for sulphate pulp and wrapping 
paper and boards. A bare beginning has been made in its use as bleached 
sulphate pulp for book paper in substitution for sulphite pulp. The commercial 
Feasibility of this practice has been demonstrated, and wider use is a distinct 
possibility. There is also the possibility of substituting pine, in part at least, 
for the spruce and hemlock used in sulphite and sulphate pulp for wrapping paper 
and boards. Potentially, as will be shown, there is the further possibilit 
e in Larger quantities in a modified sulphite process. With p 
mdard, however, the chief demand for this enormous southern 
pine resource will be to relieve our dependence for sulphate pulp. 
The -■ it of south< rn pine now exceeds its growth by about three tin. 
e have is almost entirely voluntary. M«>st of the stands, in 
rsisted in spite oi destructive lumbering and equally destructive 
. and annually <>r periodically recurring fires. With 
!i amount of care, the Leaving ^i a few trees in cutting, fire protection during 
ritical 9tagi - of tree development, and similar measures, the growth of the 
