INDIAI**^ HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 267 



The matter of fuel material is not of such vital concern so long as the 

 coal regions seem to be so vast and productive, together with the cheap- 

 ness of it. But if farmers desire to produce their fuel they can do so in 

 a short time and with profit. A number of trees which grow very thriftily 

 are adapted to every soil in Indiana. Protection groves may be made to 

 serve as sources of fuel and posts combined. 



The growing of timber for construction and building purposes is a 

 much more serious thing. Trees to become large enough for lumber for 

 such uses must have a long time in which to grow. But poplar, ash, wal- 

 nut, elm, lin, and all the oaks except the white oak are good rapid growers 

 and under cultivation will reach good mature sizes in from twenty to thirty 

 years. Instances of trees from eighteen to twenty-four inches in diameter 

 and sixty to eighty feet in height are known to have grown in the above 

 period of time. White pine is a most excellent tree to plant for these 

 purposes. The white oak, while slow, is yet better than credited, and for 

 its high value in construction and manufacture is a good paying tree to 

 grow. The same with hickory. 



The next most important industry in relation to forestry is manufac- 

 ture. This is more distant in relation to agriculture, but in its remote 

 relations to general trade, labor and timber demand makes, it the most 

 vital institution to be considered, and in it is to be found the greatest ne- 

 cessity for a vigorous forestry movement. 



In the State are to be found near five hundred exclusive wood con- 

 suming manufactories. These consume daily many thousand cubic feet 

 of wood from the large tree to the small undergrowth. These wood insti- 

 tutions employ about fifteen thousand seven hundred persons daily, and 

 pay in aggregate wages near four million seven hundred thousand dollars 

 annually. The capital invested in these factories is near twenty-five 

 million dollars, and they are paying for the raw timber product of manu- 

 facture about twelve million five hundred thousand dollars annually. 

 The aggregate finished product in value reaches about twenty-two million 

 dollars annually. A safe and entirely reasonable estimate will allow the 

 assertion that the industries using wood as the principal raw product of 

 manufacture gives the State an annual money circulation of about forty- 

 five million dollars. 



These figures give an idea of the magnitude of timber tb the industries 

 in the State. The continual destruction of forests with no decided attempt 

 at reforestation will soon find us without timber. Calculations carefully 

 made by the United States Bureau show that at the present rate of timber 

 consumption the timber in the United States can not last more than sixty 

 years if no attempt is made to conserve and afforest. The annual con- 

 sumption of wood is three hundred and fifty cubic feet per capita. 



Eighty years has witnessed the removal of eighteen million one hun- 

 dred thousand acres of the timber from the surface of Indiana. Most of 

 it had to be removed for agriculture and at a time when there was no 



