182 FOREST commissioner's report. 



capabilities of the land. What a(5e indeed has it to stand 

 there? An acre of virgin timber produces nothing, because 

 as much yearly rots as grows. It is only when it has been 

 cut through, when the mature timl)er has been taken out, that 

 the yearly production l^egins to store up. This indiscrimi- 

 nate prejudice against cutting, consideration must remove. 

 It is only by means of the ax that forest land can provide us 

 with the most evident of its benefits, useful wood material. 



When the original stock of timl)er is gone, then we shall 

 have to depend on growth. That is a condition that is sure 

 to come if our people thrive and multiply and fill up the 

 country. It is not a regrettable condition if fairly met. It 

 is the normal condition of old countries. Within our own 

 State in most quarters it is gradually coming in force. In 

 some regions indeed it has long been here. Southwestern 

 Maine for instance is doing a considerable business on lumber 

 which is entirely the product of recent growth, and the busi- 

 ness is but the more settled and regular on account of the 

 character of its supply. 

 Our great j,^ recoo'nizins^, however, that exhaustion of the 



remaining no' ' 



stocks. original stock is a possibility, that it is sure indeed 



at some time to come, we must not neglect to carefully limit 

 it in accordance with the facts of this particular case. 

 Exhaustion as it may now be spoken of in connection with 

 the great forests areas of Maine — I mean those bodies of 

 rough poor land destined always to be forest, which make 

 up a half to two-thirds of the area of the State — is not 

 exhaustion of wood material. It is not even exhaustion of 

 all timber. It is merely exhaustion of some particular quali- 

 ties and kinds. The shortage that need be looked forward to 

 in any portion of these forests to-day is that of spruce only, 

 and while that is a serious matter, while spruce formed on 

 these areas the great bulk of the coniferous timber, neverthe- 

 less just as the former generation did with pine, so now we 

 shall ffraduallv learn the extent and value of our other 

 resources. These cannot be entered into in detail. Fir, 

 cedar and hemlock have always been classed as inferior lum- 



