Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1914-06-25
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1914,
Annual Consumption Of
Wood.

Statistics have been compiled by
the forest service which show for the
first time precisely how the lumber
produced in the country is utilized.
About 45 billion feet of lumber of
all kinds is the annual production in
the United States; of this nearly IS
billion feet, board measure, are fur
Their manufactured, the other portion
remaining for rough construction
lumber and for similar purposes.
This is exclusive of material which
reaches it's final use in the form of
fuel, railroad ties, posts, poles, pulp
wood, cooperage, wood distillatrs,
and the barks and extracts demand
ed by the tanning industry.
The work of collecting and COM
piling the figures extended over a
considerable period and was carried
out state by state; but as one full
year was made the basis of statistics
in each state the total is a fair aver
age of the use of lumber in further
manufacture in the whole country.
Between so and 60 per cent of the
lumber produced is subject to further
manufacture. In preparing the fig
ures in this way, however, it should
be remembered that considerable ma
terial reaches shops and factories in
the form of logs, bolts, and billets
without having passed through saw
mills, and while this material is in
cluded in these statistics this fact
should be remembered in comparing
statistics with those of lumber pro-
duction.
Nearly or quite 100 different woods
are used in this country under their
own names, while an unknown num-
Der find their way to shops and fac
tories without being identified or
separately listed, except under gen
eral names. In quantity the soft
woods, the needle leaf or coniferous
trees, are most important, but there
is greater number of species among
the hardwoods, or broadleaf trees.
yellow pine comes first with more
than s billion feet, followed by white
pine with 3 billion, and Douglas fir
with little more than 2 billion. 1t
should be understood, however, that
the term yellow pine" includes sew
eral species, the three most import
ant of which are longleaf, shortleaf
and loblolly. Oak, including all
species, has nearly 2 billion feet, and
is the most important hardwood.
Maple COMES next.
Dogwood comes about halfway
down the list with more than 7 mill
ion board feet, and of those species
mentioned Turkish lockwood comes
last, with less than 30 thousand feet,
followed by many others too insig-
niticant to list but making total of
all kinds of more than a million feet.
OF the native species, laurel, holly
and yucca fall very near the foot of
the list in relative quantities used.
Fifty-fve principal industries use
wood as raw material. Their relative
importance is hard to indicate, be-
cause quantity alone is not in all
cases a criterion of value of an in
dustry to the community in which it
is situated, nor to the country as
whole.
More than one-half of the total
consumption consists of planning mill
products, the largest items of which
are flooring, siding, ceiling, and fin
fishing. The next industry, in point
of quantity of wood used, is the man
ufacture of boxes and crates. Nearly
four times as much wood is demand
ed by makers of boxes and crates as
by the builders of steam and electric
cars, which come next, and five fold
the amount that goes into furniture,
which in turn leads vehicle manufac-
ture. Vehicles demand surprisingly
large supplies of wood, and much of
it must be of high class in order to
meet requirements for frames, gears,
and bodies.
Chairs, listed separately from fur
niture, come after novelties and sup
plies for dairymen, poultry keepers,
and apiarists, and just before handles !
and musical instruments. About
midway down the list comes pumps