124 



ARBORICULTURE 



State of Indiana and to the entire nation 

 — yea, to all the world — that the young 

 men who are about to take up the reins of 

 p-overnment and the various business and 

 poHtical interests of this nation should be 

 informed of the true situation regarding 

 the forests, how little yet remains, how 

 very soon it will become exhausted, and 

 what course should be pursued to avoid 

 the calamities which must result from the 

 wasteful destruction of so much of the 

 nation's forest. 



Let us take a glimpse of the forests of 

 the United States as they exist at this 

 time. 



In New England the principal forest 

 areas remaining are in Maine. This State 

 was so densely wooded that it received 

 the appellation of the Pine Tree State; 

 but lumbering operations have been on 

 such an extensive scale that every county 

 has been cut over, the original forests re- 

 moved, and a second growth having taken 

 its place. The prospects are for a contin- 

 uance of the forests of this State through 

 the wisdom of Maine's excellent Forest 

 Commissioner. 



The remainder of the New England 

 States do not possess enough timber to 

 supply the needs of their manufacturers. 



Very large areas of abandoned farm 

 lands are covered with shrubby growths, 

 but possessing no material value for com- 

 mercial purposes. 



The mountain regions of New York 

 and Pennsylvania have considerable tim- 

 ber remaining, in certain localities, but 

 not enough to supply home demands, and 

 all will be exhausted in a brief period. 



None of the Middle States have large 

 forests remaining. Here and there are 

 small tracts, but the trees have almost 

 disappeared. 



Michigan, like Indiana, formerly dense- 

 ly wooded, has exhausted her pine and 



other timber. Her sawmills have re- 

 moved to other States or are left to decay. 



In the South, where transportation has 

 been somewhat more difficult, the greatest 

 bodies of timber are left, and these are 

 being removed rapidly. 



Wherever a stream exists capable of 

 floating logs, or along lines of all rail- 

 ways, the commercially valuable logs 

 have been removed. Export lumber is 

 accumulated at every Southern seaport. 



The denser forests lie in the rain-belt 

 region of Northern California, Western 

 Oregon and Western Washington. And 

 here lumbering operations are on the most 

 extensive scale which the world has ever 

 known. 



Between forest fires, export and domes- 

 tic demands, and the waste in clearing 

 forest lands for agriculture and in log- 

 ging, there will be little timber remaining 

 a quarter of a century hence on the Pacific 

 Coast. 



There seems to be no interest in all the 

 Pacific Coast region in the perpetuation 

 of the forests, but only the intense de- 

 sire to dispose of the trees as quickly as 

 possible. 



Practically all the timber land of this 

 region is in the hands of speculators, each 

 anxious to convert their property into 

 cash within the briefest possible time. 



Where else shall we look for timber 

 with which to continue our manufac- 

 tures? It does not exist in any part of 

 the United States. 



The United States has 2,968.700 square 

 miles of land area, of which 1,730,000 

 square miles are arid plains and treeless 

 prairies, sixty per cent, of our entire area 

 being treeless originally, while forty per 

 cent, of the forests have been destroyed, 

 less than fifteen per cent, of our area 

 being now. in woodlands. 



It is not likely that any large propor- 



