122 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



000 square miles, or about 60 per cent of the State. Recent inves- 

 tigations indicate that about 27,000 square miles or 39 per cent is 

 at present timbered. 



It is to be regretted that there are no reliable estimates as to 

 the total present stand of merchantable timber. My own guess 

 as to the total amount is five billion feet board measure. The 

 amount sawed into lumber can be closely approximated. In 1880, 

 400 million feet; in 1890, 402 million feet; in 1900, 724 million feet. 



Estimating an average cut between census dates, it may be 

 safely estimated that the total lumber production of the State 

 since 1880 has exceeded fourteen billion feet. In 1907, Missouri 

 stood 24th in rank, producing 1.4 per cent of the total lumber cut 

 of the United States, amounting to five hundred and forty million 

 feet, an average yield of 32 feet board measure per acre. Figuring 

 the present stand at five billion feet, continuing the present rate 

 of consumption, the end tvill he reached in ten years. Virtually 

 all of the standing pine timber will have been removed in five 

 years. Admitting the general unreliability of such prognostica- 

 tions, at best it is but a few years until Missouri ceases to be im- 

 portant as a timber producer. On the other hand, her agricultural 

 and other interests increase many fold, thus constantly increasing 

 the demand for wood material. The proper use of the absolute forest 

 soils of the State would prove sufficient for necessary future de- 

 mands for timber. 



FOREST REGIONS. 



There are two main topographic divisions of Missouri, com- 

 monly called the Ozark and the prairie regions. The northern 

 and western parts of the State are mainly smooth, the southern 

 part mainly rough. In a general way, the line separating these two 

 regions follows the Missouri river from its mouth to the vicinity of 

 Miami, Saline county ; thence it runs southward to Windsor, Henry 

 county; and thence southwest to where Spring river crosses the 

 State line in Jasper county. South and east of this line lies the 

 Ozark region, north and west of it the prairie. There may ba 

 also included a third division known as the Mississippi bottoms. 



The elevation of the country around the foot of the Ozark re- 

 gion is about 800 feet above sea level. The elevation of the top 

 along the central part of the axis varies from 1,400 to 1,700 feet. 

 The central part of the Ozarks is not extremely rugged, though 

 rather high. Around this central part is a region much more 



