The chronicle=news., 1914-06-29
STATISTICS OF WOOD
MANUFACTURE

StAllbtlcs nave Deen COHlp1leu ny
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 25
billion feet. board measure, are
further manufactured. the other por-
tion remaining for rough construc-
This is exclusive OF material which
reaches its final use in the form of
fuel, railroad ties. posts, poles, pulp
wood, cooperage. wood distillates.
and the barks and extracts demanded
by the tanning industry.
The work of collecting and COM
piling the figures extended over q
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 GO per cent of the
lumber produced Is subject to furth-
er manufacture. In preparing the
figures in this way. however. 1t
should be remembered that consider
able material reaches shops and fac
tories in the form OF logs. bolts, and
billets without having passed
through sawmills. and while this ma
terial is included in these statistics
this fact should be remembered In
comparing the statistics with those
of lumber production.
Nearly or quite 100 different
woods are used in this country under
their own names, while an unknown
number find their way to shops and
factories without being identified or
separately listed, except under gem
eral names. In quantity the soft
woods, the needle-leaf or coniferous
trees, are most important, but there
Is a greater number of species among
the hardwoods. or brOadleaf trees.
Yellow pine comes first with more
than billion feet. followed by
white pine with 3 billion, and Doug
las fir with a little more than 2 bill
lion. 1t should be understood, how
ever. that the term yellow pine in
cludes several species the three most
important of which are longleaf,
shortleaf. and loblolly. Oak. in
cluding all species, has nearly bill
lion feet. and is the most important
hardwood. Maple comes next.
Dogwood comes about halfway
down the list with more than Z mil
lion board feet, and of those species
mentioned Turkish lockwood comes
last, with less than 80 thousand feet,
followed by many others too insig-
nificant to list but making a total of
all kinds of more than million feet.
OF the native species, laurel, holly
and yucca fall very near the foto of
the list in relative quantities used.
Fifty-five principal industries use
wood as raw material. Their rela-
tive Importance is hard to indicate,
because quantity alone is not ain all
cases criterion of value of an in
dustry to the community in which it
is situated. nor to the country as n
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
ishing. The next industry, in point
of quantity of wood used, is the
manufacture of boxes and crates.
Nearly four times as much wood is
demanded by makers of boxes and
crates as by builders of steam and
electric cars, which come next, and
five-fold the amount that goes into
furniture, which in turn leads We
hicle manufacture. 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 set,rately from fur
niture, come after novelties and sup
plies for dairymen. poultry keepers.
and apiarists, and Just before han
dies. musical instruments. About
down the list come pumps
and wood pipes. Among the pro-
ducts important enough to list sep
arately are canes and umbrella
sticks, brooms, firearms, artificial.
limbs, and tobacco pipes.
The a2portionment of wood among