40 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



The average of many examinations of spruce gave one inch 

 in ten years. One tree twelve inches in diameter was 133 years old. 

 Another, fifteen inches in diameter, was 150 years old. We may 

 safely conclude that to produce trees of the above species, of good 

 quality, on'fe foot in diameter, would require from 80 to 120 years. 

 It took much more than 100 years to grow the virgin forests of 

 Maine, as many trees in the original growth were much more than 

 one foot in diameter. Experienced scalers, inform us that, taking 

 the whole State, the virgin growth would not have averaged over 

 four thousand feet per acre of marketable lumber. 



To get the average rate of growth, advantage has been given in 

 favor of rapid production ; the highest estimate of yield of our for- 

 ests taken ; no deduction has been made for trees over one foot in 

 diameter, nor any allowance for deterioration by fires or improper 

 management, yet the conclusion is inevitable, that to groio the 

 twenty-four billions which, at the present rate of consumption, 

 would be exhausted in forty-eight years, would take from 80 to 120 

 years. In loreign countries, where the conditions are made the 

 most favorable lor rapid growth, it takes 120 years to grow trees to 

 a profitable marketable size. We doubt whether, b}' ordinary care, 

 our forests can be made to yield as much marketable lumber in 100 

 years per acre as was found in our virgin forests. 



The production on an average of four thousand feet per acre in 

 one hundred years, would no more than supply the present demand, 

 and if a more rapid growth can be relied upon, why has the produc- 

 tiveness of our forests decreased? Our forest since the State was 

 settled has been reduced from about eighteen million acres to twelve 

 million acres, and the present amount of standing timber is estimated 

 by experienced scalers as only half the virgin growth. 



This is a gloomy conclusion for those who hope b}- preserving the 

 conditions for' reforestation equal to those in nature to restore the 

 lumber industry-. 



The onl}' hope of restoring the lumber industry in Maine is to 

 adopt a wise forest policy that will protect the young growth ; arrest 

 the wanton destruction of timber and control the forest fires. Such 

 a system would increase the annual growth ; but we have grave 

 doubts whether our forests can without more than ordinary care be 

 made to grow fifty billion feet of marketable lumber in one hundred 

 years and supply the demand for other forest products. 



