Vol. X. No. 23-t. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



119 



the crop can mature and be picked, commences in Ma\-. It 

 has been found that the most suitalile districts for cotton- 

 growing are situated in the eastern foothills of the Drakens- 

 berg, the Zoutpansberg, Lydenburg, Harberton, and Piet 

 Relief districts, as well as in Swaziland. The improved 

 types of American upland cotton have so far given the best 

 results. 



.\Rr;ENTlNA. A circular issued by the Argentine Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture shows that investigations have demon- 

 strated that the extension of cotton cultivation in the State 

 has been retarded by special circumstances, as the [ilant 

 itself appears to be well suited to the conditions that obtain 

 where it is grown, and gives reasonable yields. In order to 

 encourage cotton-growing in the State, the Office of Agri- 

 cultural Competitions and Exhibitions is devising competi- 

 tions to be held among the cultivators of cotton plantations 

 and cotton producers. For this purpose, seed of different 

 varieties from the United States is being distriliuted; among 

 these are Russell, Culpepper, Texas Wood, Dickson, Strick- 

 land, King and Simkin. 



SOME PACTS CONCERNING FOREST 



RESOURCES. 



Bulletin 83 of the United States Forest Service, 

 entitled Tlie Forest Resources of the World, ha.s been 

 issued recently. This gives the following information 

 concerning the West Indies, in the special connexion: — 



Semler takes a very gloomy view of forest conditions in 

 the West Indies. He thinks that, on the whole, the West 

 Indies present a sad picture of forest destruction. The small 

 islands are robbed of their former forest wealth ; and the large 

 ones, like Jamaica, San Domingo, and Cuba have only 

 remnants. What little is left is almost entu'ely in the hands 

 of private individuals, and nothing is done for the preserva- 

 tion of the forests. 



John T. Rea, who lived for four years in the AVest Indies, 

 takes a more optimistic view of the situation, and since his 

 observations are more recent and man_y of them are original, 

 they are apparently more trustworthy than Sender's. Accord- 

 ing to Ilea's statement, two-thirds of most of the West Indian 

 Islands are still in virgin bush and forest, which are capable 

 of yielding a plentiful supply of good material. Thus the 

 Layou and Sara flats, or Crown lands of Dominica, have an 

 area of 40 square miles, and contain a mine of wealth in tim- 

 ber. In Trinidad, he estimates that there are at least 

 300,000 acres of forest land. 



The total area of the West Indies is about 100,000 square 

 miles. The trees, on the whole, are not very large, and jield 

 as a rule only small scantlings. Some of the woods are 

 useful for building and engineering work, but they are valu- 

 able principally for furniture, panelling, cabinet, and other 

 fancy work. The immense variety of small articles, such as 

 knife handles, knobs, buttons, etc., which are now manu- 

 factured from choice grained woods, opens a ready market 

 for many West Indian timbers, the beauty of which cannot 

 be surpassed. Gum and resin-yielding trees abound, 

 and commercially raluable fibres may be stripped from 

 quite a number of them. The bark, leaves and berries 

 of others furnish well-known drug.s, dyes and spices. Owing 

 to the fact that all the best timber is in the inland forests, 

 with few convenient rivers for floating it down, and owing 

 also to the defective character of the means of communication 

 and the absence of sawmills and machinery for their treat- 

 ment, the native woods have until lately been available only 

 in, small quantities. Circular and other rapid sawa have beeh 



added to the plant of most of the public work-yards, so that 

 some of the disadvantages have been overcome. 



Little definite information is to be had concerning the 

 forest area of Cuba. It jirobably does not exceed 5,000,000 

 or 6,000,000 acres, which, with a population of 2,050,000, 

 makes the urea, per capita about 3 acres, and constitutes about 

 20 per cent, of the total land area. Such an area, with the 

 small local demand for wood, if the forests are properly man- 

 aged and cared for, certainly ought to furnish a sufficient 

 supply for home consumption. Unfortunately, however, the 

 forests do not contain the kinds of timber needed for most 

 purposes, and hence large quantities are imported annually. 



The following are the general conclusions reached 

 in the Bulletin, in relation to the forest resources of 

 the world: — 



The review of the timber trade of the various countries 

 of the world shows a steady increase in wood consumption, 

 and imports of nearly all the leading import countries, and 

 but three important countries, Russia, Finland and Sweden, 

 which can increase their export without lessening their forest 

 capital This increase will be needed in Western Europe to 

 make up the growing deficit there, and will not be a source 

 of supply for the United States. Thus the tendency is 

 toward a greater over-cutting of timber on the part of the 

 export countries, to make tip the increasing deficit of the 

 import countries, which policy, if continued, would lead to 

 a univer.sal shortage, with no surplus to draw upon. This 

 picture, gloomy as it may seem, is offset by the birth of a new 

 economic force — the general appreciation of the value of 

 forests, and the movement toward the introduction of rational 

 forest management by all civilized peoples. There is no 

 doubt whatever that there is enough accessible actual and 

 potential forest land in civilized countries to produce, under 

 proper management, an abundance of timber to supply 

 indefinitely the world's growing demand. 



Doctor Schlich states, in his Forest Policy, that by 

 planting up waste lands in Great Britain much of the annual 

 import cottld be replaced by home-grown timber. If any 

 material results can be expected in Great Britain, thi« 

 country, with its great existing forests and large amount of 

 permanent forest land, can certainly supply its timber needs. 

 Kot only of necessity, in view nf the lack of an}' adequate 

 foreign source of supidy, but also from national pride and 

 the desire to preserve a tremendous native industry, the 

 United States should introduce rational forest management. 

 At present, forest management would consist in large part of 

 conservative treatment of existing forests with a relatively 

 .small amount of planting. If postponed until a timber 

 shortage forces the United States to action, it would face the 

 problem of the slow conversion of .scrubby woodland into 

 productive forest, and the costly planting of denuded waste* 

 on a very large scale. While the present area of wooded 

 land in the United States is usually estimated at 545,000,000 

 acres some of this is of no commercial vahte, and much is 

 inevitably destined, with the increase in the population of 

 the country, to be cleared for agriculture. The area of land 

 so situated as to be permanent forest land is about 

 450,000,000 acres, of which 100,000,000 will consist of farm 

 wood-lots. The inevitable increase in wood consumption, 

 following increase in poptilation and growth of industries, 

 will thus have to be supplied from a diminished forest area 

 Therefore the only solution of the problem of a wood-supply 

 is to begin now to prepare for making a diminished forest 

 area supply an increased population. This means that the 

 land should be surveyed and classified by the Government, 

 and forest management applied to the permanent' forest land, 

 now — before it is too late. 



