Amador ledger., 1908-11-06
TIMBER SUPPLY
OE UNITED STATES

the forests of the United States at the
rate of 500 feet board measure q year
for every man, woman, and child.
In europe they use only 90 board
teet.''
/ Few statements could be made
which would better convince the
average man that this country leads
the world in the demand for timbe
1t is made by Treadwell Cleveland jr.,
in circular which treats OF the con
servation of the forests, soil, water,
and all the other great natural re-
sources, which has just been publish
ed by the United States Forest Ser
vice. In speaking further of the con-
sumption of timber in this country,
Mr. Cleveland says:
cat this rate, in less than thirty
years all our remaining virgin timber
will be cut. Meantime, the forests
which have been cut over are general
ly in bad way for want OF care;
they will produce only inferior
second growth. We are clearly over
the verge of a timber famine.
''This Is not due to necessity, for
the forests are one Of the renewable
resources. Rightly used, they go on
producing crop after crop indefinite
Iy. The countries of Europe know
this, and Japan knows It,; and their
forests are becoming with time not
less, but more, productive. We pro-
bably still possess sufficient forest
land to grow wood enough at home
to supply our own needs. If we are
not blind, or willfully wasteful, we
may yet preserve our forest independ-
ence and, with it, the fourth of cur
great Industries.
"Present wastes ia Lumber pro-
ductiun are enormous. Take the case
OF yellow pine, which now sheads the
list in the volume of annua! cut. In
1907 it is estimated that only one-half
of all the yellow pine cut daring the
season was used, and that the other
half, amounting to 5000. 00U cords,
was wasted. Such waste is typical
X. A. Long, in his address on forest
conservation at the conference of
governors last spring, pointed out
that 20 per cent of the yellow pine
was simply left in the wOods-a waste
which represents the timber growing
on 800, 600 acres.
"rhe rest of the waste takes place
at the mill. or course, il would
never do to speak of the material re-
material could be turned to use by
some better and more thorough form
of utilization. But in many cases we
know, and in many other cases we
have excellent reason to believe, that
most, if not all, of this material
could be used with profit. 1t is sim
ply a question of intelligent investi-
CATION and, mote than all, of having
the will to economize.
"But there are other ways to con-
serve the forests besides cutting in
half the present waste Of forest pro
ducts. The forests can be made to
produce three or four times as rapid
ly as they do at present. This is
true of both the virgin forests and
the cut-over lands. Virgin forests
are often fully stocked with first
class timber. hut this stock has been
laid in very slowly, on account of the
wasteful competition which is carried
on constantly between the rival trees.
| Then, too, in the virgin forests there
are very many trees which haze reach
ed maturity and stopped growing,
aud these occupy space which, ii held
by younger trees, would be laying in
new stock constantly, As regards
the cut-over land, severe cutting,
followed by fire, has checked growth
so seriously that in most cases repro
duction is both poor and slow, while
in many cases there IS no true forest
reproduction at all at present, and
there is hut little hope for the
future.
81 have been somewhat costiye,