Vermont Agricultural Report. 59 



One very important feature in the question of forest sup- 

 plies which is often overlooked by forestry reformers is that, 

 while almost any kind of forest will answer for protective pur- 

 poses, it is not wood but wood of certain qualities, forests of 

 given species and character,, which alone satisfy the lumber 

 market. There are not only tree weeds just as there are weeds 

 in the lower vegetation, but the relative value of the useful kinds 

 varies greatly. All the ornamental hardwoods, of which the 

 tropical world is still full could be destroyed without our missing 

 much, for they are only beautiful ; but the woods most used in 

 our northern civilization which the tropic forest mostly lacks 

 are the soft conifers, pines, spruces, firs, etc. Three-quarters 

 of our present log consumption consists of these and only one- 

 quarter of hardwoods. 



Without going further in the discussion of this question I 

 will now formulate a third fundamental. 



The question of continued wood supplies of given character 

 is one zvhich requires at the present time as much, if not more 

 attention than the question of pr'otective influences. 



I accentuate the present time. As long as an apparently end- 

 less forest wealth covered the country, which a relatively small 

 population could hardly ever hope to reduce from a wilderness 

 to a civilized condition, there would have been little call for 

 exertion to secure a continuation of wood supplies. But now 

 conditions are so changed that the exhaustion of virgin sup- 

 plies within a generation is to be anticipated, if we continue 

 to use wood as we do now. We must, therefore, look ahead 

 to forestall any deficiency. Thirty years seems to be a long 

 time hence to borrow trouble now, and the American, busy with 

 the present, is inclined to leave the future to take care of itself. 

 He is inclined also to think that when the need arises, there 

 will be a way found and a result attained in a hurry. But there 

 is one element in the production of a useful forest growth which 

 no ingenuity of man will be able to overcome and that is the 

 time element. There are Cheap- Johns in the country just now 

 who recommend the planting of rapidly growing trees, like the 

 Catalpa. to meet the coming timber famine. Curiously enough, 

 just about lOO years ago, when the Germans were in fear of a 

 timber famine, the same Catalpa did service — on paper — to stave 

 off the evil day. No doubt, for some purposes these inferior 

 trees will serve, but our principal needs are supplied by trees 

 which in the natural forest have required from 150 to 300 

 years and more to furnish the useful clear lumber and there is 

 so far no method of accelerating the growth of sawlogs which 

 secures a desirable result in less than 60 to 100 years. 



