7 8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Looking at the map of the Upper Peninsula, the eye sees instantly 

 that the pine-forests remain only in a comparatively small district 

 bordering on the northern portion of Wisconsin and not easily acces- 

 sible, while from that part of the State lying along the Menominee 

 River and Green Bay, as well as along the upper shore of Lake Michi- 

 gan and the southern shore of Lake Superior in short, wherever they 

 could be reached with facility both the pine and hard-wood have 

 been cleared away. There remains a belt of mingled pine and hard- 

 wood stretching across the interior of the Peninsula, and a section, 

 consisting chiefly of hard-wood, lying in the extreme northern and 

 northwestern portions. 



These grand facts in regard to one of the principal sources hitherto 

 of our pine-lumber are seen at a glance from the clear and well-defined 

 maps of the forthcoming census report. Apart from such a presenta? 

 tion to the eye, they could not be gained without much and careful 

 inquiry, and then the facts would make no such clear and distinct 

 impression upon the mind as they do at once w r hen thus mapped 

 before the sight. 



The rate at which the supply of lumber in any region is increased 

 or diminished can not be given by a single map, or the relation of the 

 supply to the annual demand. These facts could be presented to the 

 eye only by a series of maps showing the areas of forest as they 

 become changed from year to year. So, in a single page of figures 

 accompanying each map, we have the estimated amount of merchant- 

 able timber still standing on the 31st of May, 1880, and the amount 

 cut during the year ending with that date. The comparison of these 

 readily gives the probable duration of the supply at the present rate 

 of consumption. Thus the statement for Michigan is as follows: In 

 the Lower Peninsula the amount of white pine is: 



Board-measure. 

 In the basins of the streams flowing into Saginaw Bay. . . . 7,000,000,000 feet. 



In the basins of streams flowing into Lake Huron 8,000,000,000 " 



In the basins of streams flowing into Lake Michigan 14,000,000,000 " 



Total 29,000,000,000 " 



Cut for the census year ending May 31, 1880, including 2,988,600,000 shingles and 

 428,445,000 laths, but exclusive of 36,000,000 staves and 3,330,000 sets of headings, 

 4,06S,773,000 feet. 



It will be seen at once that, at the present rate of consumption, the 

 white-pine lumber of the Lower Peninsula will be consumed in about 

 seven years. It will probably last somewhat longer than this, because 

 its increasing scarcity and the increased difficulty of procuring it on 

 account of its remoteness from streams by means of which it might 

 be easily floated to market, will advance the price, and thereby lessen 

 the demand for it. The duration of the remaining pine-forests of 

 Michigan w T ill also be extended by the fact that the augmented price 

 will lead to the substitution of the hard-woods for many purposes in 



