290 ANNUAL EEPOETS OF DP^PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



annual growth could be increased to about 14,000,000,000 feet, or 

 a little over half our present requirements, if all our forests were 

 given adequate protection against fire and elementary practices of 

 forestry were introduced. By intensive forest management, com- 

 parable to the best European practice, our total area of forest land 

 could be made to grow 27,000,000,000 cubic feet annually, or enough 

 to take care of our present consumption and afford a little surplus. 



The agricultural needs of the country will not make necessary 

 the decrease of our present forest-land area of 470,000,000 acres 

 in order to produce food. This land should be brought under man- 

 agement and, where necessary, reclaimed through reforestation as 

 quickly as possible, since at best the country must pass through a 

 considerable period of timber scarcity before new stands of mer- 

 chantable size can be grown on the cut-over lands. 



Recents developments in Canada raise the problem of timber 

 supplies from another angle. In June, 1923, the Canadian Parlia- 

 ment amended the export act to authorize the Governor in Council 

 to place an embargo upon the export of pulpwood from privately 

 owned lands in the Dominion. This authorization, if carried out, 

 would extend to all privately owned lands the embargo now in 

 effect upon the Crown lands of several of the Canadian Provinces 

 most important to the United States from the standpoint of pulp- 

 wood supply. 



Imj)orts of pulpwood from Canada for a number of years have 

 normally exceeded 1,000,000 cords out of an average annual consump- 

 tion in the United States of 5,400,000 cords during the past fivfe years. 

 An embargo upon Canadian pulpwood would be serious because the 

 paper-mill capacity in the Northeast and the Lake States exceeds the 

 existing supply of domestic timber. The action taken by Canada is 

 simply another indication of the growing stringency of timber sup- 

 ply in North America. 



As a result of the threatened embargo, the pulp and paper in- 

 dustry has requested the Forest Service to make a survey of the 

 raw materials available for the paper industry in the United States. 

 An important feature of this survey is to determine our resources 

 for growing pulpwood, with a view to creating a perpetual source 

 of raw material on American soil. 



With only about 21 per cent of the country's forest lands in public 

 ownership, a number of the States, as well as the Federal Govern- 

 ment, are moving for the extension of publicly owned forests. 

 Already 200 municipalities, including cities, towns, and counties, 

 own approximately 450,000 acres of forest land, held primarily for 

 water supply and to a limited extent for timber growing and recrea- 

 tional purposes. Nineteen States have established State forests, 

 totaling about 5,500,000 acres, of which New York has nearly 

 2,000,000 and Pennsylvania sliglitly over 1,000,000 acres. For the 

 purchase of State forests, New York in 1916 authorized a bond 

 issue of $7,500,000, and in Pennsylvania a bond issue of $25,000,000 

 for the same purpose is proposed. 



The State of Washington has just adopted a unique purchase 

 method, which is self-supporting, in that the bonds, designated as State 

 forest utility bonds, which are authorized to be issued for the pur- 

 pose, impose no general obligation on the State as to either principal 

 or interest. Forest lands can be acquired either through exchange 



