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Breeding for High-Quality Wood

I think one of our major objectives should be the development of trees that will produce more of the kinds of wood desired by the major users of forest products. In other words, we should give quality and end-use requirements a more prominent place in our thinking and planning. In some of the preceding papers and discussion, considerable emphasis was placed upon attaining exceptional growth rates. In this connection, I should like to point out that growth rate in itself is of questionable importance if the wood thus produced has little or no value in the market place. The Forest Survey figures show that in this country we are already growing an enormous volume of wood, principally hardwood species, that is largely unmerchantable. The deficit in our growth-drain balance is in high-quality material, for which there is a great present and potential demand.


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Author(s): Harold L. Mitchell

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Lake States Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1955