58 Vermont Agricultural Report. 



tion of forests by use," which. I formulate into my second funda- 

 mental : 



The forest like all life is preserved not by non-use, but by re- 

 generation, a succession of generations. And this succession 

 can only be secured by the harvest of the old crop, establishing 

 tlie new crop during or after the removal of the old. 



It is only since the large bulk of our seemingly inexhaustible 

 timber wealth has been used up that we begin to realize how de- 

 pendent the development of our civilization has been and still 

 continues to be on the material which the forest furnishes, and 

 how puerile the cry of the earlier forestry reformers to stop the 

 hunberman. 



When you consider that over $600,000,000 of capital is in- 

 vested by lumbermen to make the material of the forest useful 

 and that this material furnished by our forests annually to our 

 use represents a round $1,000,000,000 or more, you will readily 

 realize that the lumberman cannot be stopped unless you stop 

 your housebuilding, manufactures of furniture, cars, boxes, 

 barrels,, paper and the use of the innumerable things made of 

 wood. It may, to be sure, be possible to find substitutes for this 

 material — and such are constantly being found and supplied— 

 but the enormity of the present consumption and the desirability 

 of the material is such that there can be little question of the 

 necessity of a continuance of wood supplies. 



I have no doubt we could without harm reduce the enormous 

 wood consumption which our great timber wealth has induced 

 to one-quarter and even to one-sixth of what it now is, for 

 Germany consumes about 15 cubic feet of log material per capita 

 and England can get along with 13 cubic feet as against our 

 consumption of over 80 cubic feet per capita. But even this 

 minimum necessity will call for special effort to provide it when 

 the virgin forests have been all cut. 



In this connection the very remarkable fact should also not 

 be overlooked that, instead of reducing their per capita wood 

 consumption as the supplies become less and dearer and iron 

 and steel cheaper, all civilized nations have within the last 40 

 years constantly increased their wood consumption at a rate of 

 from three to five per cent, per annum. Another fact is 

 significant, that England, the country of coal and iron, importing 

 nearly all her wood supplies, produced last year only $120,- 

 000,000 of pig iron while she bought from other nations 

 $125,000,000 of wood. 



In the face of these facts we come to the realization that 

 the supply argument is one of great, nay in my opinion one of 

 much greater importance at present in the advocacy of rational 

 forestry than the protective argument. 



