The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-10
UNCLE SAM, LUMBER MAN


rnc National Reserve Worth Two Bill
ION Dollars and in Time Will Net
SIX Millions q Year-What Our
Great Wood Lands Mean-A Ten
FOO, Pathway to the SuIf0Our Big
lumber Cut and Its Enormous
waste Whict, Might B<, Prevented
the Forestry Bureau and Its RanS&
crs-Twenty-ffve Million Dollars
loss i'm Firt,s-Tile New Forest Pa
/ troll.
|(Copyright, 1911. by Frank G. Car
penter.)
Washington. .. G.
have spent this week at the For
estr. Bureau gathering the latest in
formation as to Uncle Sans wood
lands The figures are so great that
the mind cannot comprehend them,
and the only way to understand them
is hy simple comparisons Take. for
instance the woods which covered this
country along about 1900, at the time
Capt John Smith landed at the mouth
of the James They had an area
greater than one-third of all Europe,
and considera bly, more than One-lourth
Of the whole United States, including
Alaska. The forestry service estimates
that the stand of merchantable timbe
then equaied more than five thousand
billion feet, or enough to construct
board walk a foot wide and an incn
thick. and one billion miles long. That
amount Of lumber would have covered
a board walk ten feet wide from the
earth to the sun and still have left
enough over to have belted the waist
of old Mother Earth at the equator
with band three and one-half miles
wide The remainder. If Gu. into
flooring. could have carpeted New
England. New York. New jersey. Del
aware and Maryland. The total area
OF the wood .and was 85003O.OO0
acres. and the mercha ntable timber
$500 billion feet That is what We had
at the beginning.
Our Mighty Forests.
Before l tell YOU what has become
OF this mighty property, let me de-
scribe in nutshell just what II was.
Uncle Sans foresters have told me the
story The woods were in five great
tracts. There were the northern for
est he southern forest. the central
aoreSt, the Rocky Mountain woods
and the Pacific woods.
The northern forest was the home OF
the white pine. covering an area
about six times As great as that Of Ohic
and containing enough lumber to have
made a belt of boards an inch thick
and mile and half wide around the
globe. The southern forest was large
y Of yellow pine and Of cypress but
the trees were not SO large, and IN
board feet it was just about equal to
that Of the north. The central forest
which lay between, was nearly al
hard wood. 1t had an area much larger
than the woods north and south. and
the lumber within it was about hall
as much more as either of the others
IL would have made band around
the earth at least two miles in width
And then came the Rocky Mountain
forest. composed chiefly of cOne-b bear.
ing trees This contained only no.
100000 acres. and the lumber upon il
was about 400 billion beard feet. TIL,
racine forest was still smaller in area
but it had the biggest trees of the
country 1t had the Douglas fir, the
redwood and western yellow pine. I
had the giants of the forest and the
SCIENTISTS here say that it's trees were
ihe largest and that they cont aimed
more lumber than any other known tt
history geology. The area ot tha
forest was just about equal to TIVE
states the size of Pennsylvania; bu
me stand was SO great that it equale'
the hardwood central forest CT thu
east and if cut into inch boards. |
would have sufficed to belt the glob'
with u board walk of two miles II
width
Our Lumber supply OF 1911.
Now let us See what is left. Gu
BOARD walk to the sun has been jus
about cut in half, and the same is tru
Oh the left-Oyers. A walk could Still
De made. but it would be onl,' fV'
ltet IA width, and the board bel
around the equator would be con
Siderabiy less than two mies il
"ldth. Fully one-half of the mer
chantable tinbec has disappeared. l
mas been cut downs burnt W an'
wasted in every possible way. som
oI 1t has gone into buildings, but
vast amount has been absolute waste
lhe Northern forest has lost 10 pc!