THE OUTLOOK OF THE TIMBER SUPPLY IN THE 

 UNITED STATES.* 



II. 



In the first paper we have seen that the United States will have 

 to rely for its timber supplj' upon its own resources and whatever 

 its neighbor, Canada, can spare. 



If, as we shall see further on, it is difficult to estimate our own 

 home resources, is is still more difficult, with so vast and largely 

 unsettled a country as Canada. Yet a mere knowledge of physi- 

 cal geography and of the relation of plant production to climate 

 suffices to discredit the extravagant claims sometimes made re- 

 garding the natural timber supplies of that country. 



The Statistician of the Department of Agriculture, at Ottawa, 

 making a report on the "Forest Wealth of Canada," in 1895, 

 sums up the conclusions based on a more or less exhaustive in- 

 quiry as follows : 



ist. The first quality pine has nearly disappeared. 



2nd. Of second quality pine there is a considerable supply. 



3d. Of other timber woods there is a large supply. 



4th. We are within measurable distance of the time when, with 

 the exception of spruce, as to wood, and British Columbia, as to 

 provinces, Canada shall cease to be a wood exporting country. 



As the Statistician had, before the inquiry, held rather different 

 views regarding the situation, it is not likely that these deductions 

 are radical. 



As to the spruce supply, it may be stated that an immense area 

 to the northward and westward, as far as Alaska, contains this 

 class of timber, but as is to be expected, from soil and climate, it 

 occurs mostly in scattered open groves, of inferior development, 

 and, while most important for home consumption, unfit for ex- 

 port and use in the arts, being in that respect largely on a par 

 with our own Alaskan possessions. 



In fact, in the Eastern Provinces, the true timber producing 

 area is bounded towards the north by the Heiglit of Land. 

 Beyond this natural limit there are only along watercourses and 



*Presented before Section I, American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, Washington, D. C, 1902. 



