Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1907-05-11
PLANT TREES
Three Times as Much Timber Used
Each Year as Forests Grow.

EVERY person IN the United States is
using over six times as much wood as he
would Use if lie were in Europe The
between three and four times more wood
than all OF tile forests of the United
States grow iii the meantime. The av-
eTage acre OF forest lays up store of
only 10 cubic feet annually, whereas it
ought to be laying up at least so cubic
feet i'll order to furnish the products
taken oft OF it. Since 1880 more than
z ~, 800, 900, 600 feet of timber have been
cut for lumber alone, including so, 600,
900, 0in feet of coniferous timber i'll ex-
cess Of the total coniferous stunpage es-
innate of the census in 1880.
These are some Of the remarkable
statements made i'll Circular 81 of the
timber supply of the United States and
reviews the stumpage estimates made BY
all the important authorities. study
of the circular must lead directly to the
conclusion that the rate at which forest
products in the United States have been
and are being consumed is far too lavish,
and that only one result can follow un-
less steps are promptly taken to prevent
waste in use and to increase the growth
rate OF every acre of forest i'll the United
States This result is timber famine
This country is today III the same posi-
ton with regard to forest resources as
was Germany $50 years ago. During
States as S&xony and Prussia, particu-
larly the latter, have applied a policy of
government control and regulation which
has immensely Increased the productiv-
itv OF ter forests. The same policy
Will acl.iTc even better results i'll the
United States, because we have the adj
vantage of all the lessons which Europe
has learned and paid for in the course of
century OF theory and practice
Lest it might be assumed that the
rapid and gaining depletion Of American
forest resources is sufficiently accounted
for by the increase of population, it is
pointed out in the circular that the in
crease iii population since 1880 is barely
more than half the increase in lumber
cut i'll the same period. Two areas sup
plying timber have already reached and
passed their maximum production---th
Northeastern States i'll 1870 and the
Lake States in 1870. Today the South
ern States, which cut yellow pine
amounting to one-third the total annual
lumber cut of the country, are undoubt-
eddy near their maximum The Pacific
States will soon take the ascendancy
The State of Washington within few
years has come to the front and now
ranks first of all individual States in vol
ume of cut.
At. present but one-6fth of the total
forest area of the United States is EN-
braced in national forests. The remain
ing four-ffth have already passed or
are most likely to pass into private
hands. The average age OF the trees
felled for lumber this year is not less
than $50 years. In other words, if he is
to secure second crop of trees of the
same size, the lumberman or private
forest owner must wait, say, at least 100
years for the second crop to grow. AS
rule, such longtime investments as this
waiting would involve do not commend
themselves to business men who are &C
customed to quick returns But the
States and the nation can look much
farther ahead. The larger, then, the
area of national and State control over
woodlands, the greater is the likelihood
that the forests of the country will be
kept permanently productive