Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-12-24
MAINE FORESTS.

Interesting Information Carefully Prepared b,
Forest Commissioner Oak and Austin Cary.
The annual report of Hon. c. E. Oak,
forest commissioner, will soon be ready for
distributor. He says in brief:
1.-The Pine Tree State as Maine is
commonly called, is almost misnomer
at the present time, for although Maine
is known as the State of magnificent for
ests, it is TO be regretted that the pine
tree has become, comparatively. a thing
OF the past. Within the memory of very
many of our older inhabitants, in speak
ing OF the timber lands, only the value of
the pine was taken into consideration in
fixing prices, even spruce, which has since
become so very valuable, being considered
of so little value as to enter as a very
small factor in their calculation. No one
seemed to dream that the spruce growth
would ever yield such enormous revenues
as they have since done-far exceeding
those from pine-and stranger still, that
cedar lands were formerly regarded as alb
solutely worthless and marked as waste
lands on their charts and plans but have
since proved to have been the most yalu-
able. per acre, of any OF the timber lands
having yielded in many instances thirty
dollars and forty dollars per acre. With
the increased cutting of spruce, however,
the character and quality of the lumber
has gradually grown poorer until the
present time, SO much SO, that those fami-
liar with old cuttings, express great sur
prise at the appearance of the brows and
booms of logs along the Penobscot. Ken
nebec and Androscoggin, of today
Commissioner Oak sp,aks of the waste
of lumber in the past, when pine was
plenty, and other fine lumber was chopped
down to get the sought for kings of the
Maine forests. Speaking of the wild
lands he says:
From the last State assessors report
l learn that the total acreage of wild
lands of the State is 1866, 727 acres. From
this, for the sake of rough calculation,
deduct for the average of lakes, cleared
lands, bogs, burned and waste lands
enough to give the actual lumber produc-
ing acreage, of the wild land region which
we call 8, 600, 900 acres, to which the State
assessors have given q value of Is, 210, 1874
or about two dollars per acre, which we
will assume is about correct. For num-
Der of years past it is conceded that the
total cut of the State from these wild lands
has equaled at least 500, 600, 900 feet, upon
which, the average stumpage has been
about SO. so per thousand, making the
yearly income from stumpage about 81,
250,0 900 or approximately per cent of
the total value of the wild lands each
year.
Knowing then the rate of cutting each
year, which is approximately per cent
of the present valuation, the necessity of
knowing the percentage of growth is
readily appreciated. If we are correct in
estimating the percentage of cutting, and
should discover that the annual growth is
only 2 per cent, we should lind ourselves
face to face with the alarming condition
that in twenty years the lumber industry
of the State would be entirely gone.
do not with to be understood as making
the statement that the total annual
growth is only 2 per cent in my Judg-
ment, yet l think it can be demonstrated
to the satisfaction of any person who will
take the trouble to study the matter, even
in superficial manner. that of the spruce
lumber that has already reached mer-
charitable size, which we will assume to
be twelve inches in diameter three feet
from the ground, that the annual growth
on such lumber cannot possibly exceed
per cent on the average"
Mr. Oak also presents information Ct
value on the forest fires. Following his
remarks comes those of Austin Cary,
who was employed to study the growth
of spruce and in brief, Mr.. Cary says:
Taking for granted the continued inn
portance of the lumber business in Maine,
what is the States interest in the NATTER
1t lies, broadly speaking, in the directions
of economy and the steadiness and perma-
nence of business. 1t demands that ouI
resources shall be used to best advantages
1t demands that our standing timber be
not wasted or exhausted, that growth be
utilized to best advantage, that the future
producing power of our forests be not
DESTROYED. The States interest does not
require that timber should be cut at a
loss, nor does it demand that growth
should be left for the future that is worth
more today.
MIR. Cary has made an exhaustive study
of the growth of spruce. One Thousand
and fif1y spruce trees We're examined iol
the purpose of determining the average
size of spruce logs. Spruce trees on an
average throughout life maintain growth
of one cubic foot in six and two-thirds
wears. These 1860 trees average l92 and
two-tenths years. The average butt
diameter is fourteen and one-tenth inches
average length thirty and six-tenths
feet average top diameter nine ana two-
tenths inches.
In pine, considerably larger log than
the spruce is only 13 years of age, while
the average growth is az times that OF
spruce. / should say that for black
spruce $50 years corresponds that ol
20 for a human being.