The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-04-01
THE WORLDS TIMBER SUPPLY.
Danger of it's Failure Unless Reforest-
ing is Practiced.

Danger of it's Failure Unless Reforest-
ing is Practiced
The possibility Of a failure at no dis
tant date in the worlds timber supply
was considered by DR. w. Schlch last
night in an address delivered before the
Society of Arts. To answer this ques-
ton we must ask three others. Taking
the world as a whole do we find the de-
mand materially increasing? II so, is
the supply keeping pace with it? If
not, can any remedy be found? The
prospect of such famine is no trifling
matter We are accustomed to discuss
| with some misgivings the probable
curtailment of the national coal supply.
but the world at large need not concern
itself with such approximations. A de-
ficiency in timber. however, Is more inn
Eminent and hardly less serious Apart
ffrom its use for fuel and building it
| has been immensely in demand for
making paper pulp and cellulose In
Europe thirteen countries are importers,
Great Britain being at the head of the
list, followed by Germany, with France
as the third. Five are exporters, Rus
STA and Scandinavia being the leaders
| here. In Europe, as a whole, imports
exceed exports by over twenty six hum
| dred thousand tons. The demand also
/! is increasing.
In the British Isles imports have
grown during the last thirty-1ve years
at an average rate of one hundred and
thirty-nine thousand tons, and the
price has mounted yetmora rapidly
Germany, though it has extensive for
ests Of it's own, supporting by work
done in them about million people and
three times as many by work in con-
nection with them, is also a large i'm
porter, though 1t takes less than half
as much as we require DR.. Schlich
calculates that the consumption Of tim
Der in the four chief consuming coun-
tries, at the present rate of increase,
will probably have risen in few years
from fourteen to twenty cubic feet per
head.
Among the exporting countries the
forest area is extensive in Russia, and
especially in Finland, but from varia-
ty of causes is not capable Of very great
expansion, SO the supply of timber may
not improbably begin before long to fall
off. In Scandinavia the limit of pro-
ductivity seems to have been already
reached. But Europe, 1t may be said, Is
not the world. DR.. Schich accordingly
passes other regions in review, Some of
them are importers, but their demand is
far exceeded by the export of the rest,
the balance on that side amounting to
2.2S5,000 tons, or less by three hundred
and thrty-five thousand tons than the
European deficit. This, however, is
made up by imports from such coun-
tries as Madagascar, Siam and Java,
which do not figure in the tabulated re-
turn. 1t is clear, then, that the supply,
even at the present time, can barely |
keep pace with the demand, and the /
limit of the former has been very nearly |
reached. China, if it becomes prosper
Gus. is more likely to import timber
than to export it, for she has little of |
her own
The United States hitherto have been
large exporters the average value Of
timber sold exceeding that bought dur
ing the last fifteen years by over TWEEN
ty-five hundred thousand pounds. But
Dr. Schlich maintains that, notwith-
the vast area covered by for
est, and the protective measures now
adopted, the States could not long sup
port greatly increased demand The
position in Canada is still worse. The
waste has been proportionately greater
n the past, and measures to check it
are only in the germ. Or. Schlich
therefore, concludes that so far as conf
srous wood is concerned, the danger of
deficient supply is already almost at
land In our own country this consti-
utes 81 per cent. of the imports, and
he price is steadily though slowly ris-
ng. What remedy, then, can be found?
Or. Schlch replies: Cultivate timber
N waste lands, like other crops on the
more fertile soil. There are in this
ountry twenty-five million acres suita-
lie for the purpose. A quarter of this
rea would make Great Britain self
Importing in the matter of timber and
would give employment to thousands
f it's population Standard.