DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 263 



In Europe, Norway and Sweden, Russia, Germany, and 

 possibly Belgium are the only countries which yield more 

 forest products than they consume ; while the other European 

 countries, especially Great Britain and the extreme southern 

 nations, are enormous consumers of imported wood. In 

 the United States, according to Mr. Marsh's estimate, Oregon 

 is the only State in w^hich there is an excess of forest. New 

 York and Maine, which were formerly the chief lumber-pro- 

 ducing States of the East, now do not cut enough for the use 

 of their own inhabitants, and depend on Canada for a large 

 portion of their supply. And this seems to be true of all the 

 States of the Union, with the exception of Pennsylvania, Col- 

 orado, Oregon, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 



The annual forest destruction in the three last States is 

 enormous, and they must soon depend on extraneous sources 

 for their domestic supply. According to an article in the " St. 

 Louis Republican," quoted by Mr. Marsh, 3,311,372,225 feet 

 of lumber were cut in 1869 in these three States, from 883,- 

 132 acres ; and the same article estimated that there were 

 only about 15,500,000 acres of forest left in these States to 

 be cut off, or only fifteen or twenty years' supply. When 

 this is gone, the world will be deprived of one of its richest 

 stores of lumber. 



How long the supply in the British Possessions in North 

 America will last, it is impossible to estimate. Heavy drains 

 are already being made on it. During the three years ending 

 June 30, 1871, the Dominion of Canada exported lumber to 

 the value of $63,131,608, gold; the trade increasing during 

 that time about $1,000,000 each year. 



In spite of the substitution in many parts of the country 

 of coal as fuel, both for domestic purposes and for the genera- 

 tion of steam ; in spite of the increasing employment of other 

 material, both in the construction of buildings and various 

 implements, and for ship-building, the demand for wood in 

 the United States has stimulated the supply until the figures 

 which mark its increase seem almost incredible. 



The railroads are enormous consumers, both in fuel, in the 

 construction of cars and buildings, and for sleepers. "The 

 Monthly Report of the Bureau of Agriculture" for November 

 and December, 1869, estimated that the annual expenditure 



