Vol. XIV 



JULY, 1908 



No. 7 



THE WORK OF THE SPOILERS 



How the Finest Hardwood Forests on the Continent, in Western Ohio, 



Have Been Ravished — The Result 



By A. B. PLOWMAN, Department of Botany, Beaver College 



OC 



I 



IT IS the writer's purpose to record 

 briefly in this paper some of the 

 facts gathered in a study of the 

 forestry conditions in Western Ohio in 

 the summer of 1907. 



Here, as everywhere in the United 

 States, probably the most striking fact 

 in connection with the whole problem 

 of timber-supply is the unprecedented 

 advance in the prices of lumber during 

 the last few years. The graph chart. 

 Fig. I, based upon quotations supplied 

 by one of the largest retail lumber 

 dealers in Western Ohio, will serve to 

 show, better than figures or any mere 

 statement in words the nature of this 

 advance in prices since 1890. The con- 

 spicuous feature of this chart is the ex- 

 cessive steepness of the graphs for the 

 last period represented, 1905-1907. This 

 is especially noticeable in the case of 

 plastering lath and cedar shingles. We 

 observe that in the seventeen years cov- 

 ered by the chart, the price of lath has 

 advanced one hundred forty per cent., 



while the price of shingles has in- 

 creased ninety per cent. But even more 

 significant is the fact that, of the one 

 hundred forty per cent, advance, sixty 

 per cent., or three-sevenths, has oc- 

 curred in the last two years ; and of the 

 ninety per cent, advance on shingles, 

 seventy- four per cent., or nearlv five- 

 sixths, is included in the same two 

 years. 



Of course these prices are but little, 

 if at all, dependent upon local forestry 

 conditions, but they constitute a highly 

 important element in the local problem 

 of timber supply. And, in passing, it 

 may be remarked that in the region un- 

 der consideration, there is a rather gen- 

 eral belief that the present high tide in 

 timber prices is as largely due to tariff, 

 freight rates, and corporation control 

 as to any actual or threatened failure in 

 the natural supply, either here or else- 

 where. Comment is uniiecessary. 



The territory included in this study 

 is limited to the western tier of coun- 



