PERIODICAL LITERATURE 



vSTATISTlCS AND HISTORY 



,- G. Huffel, the veteran French forester, argues 



German , , ^ i r ^ 



_, „ that the Germans must restore or replace forest 



Forest Resources , , . , ^ , , r, , 



resources that were lost by the f^rench and Bel- 

 gians. Speaking especially of France, he concludes that "our forests 

 will not be restored to their former value for a century." Houses can 

 only be rebuilt, while forest growing stocks can only be replaced by 

 economy for many decades. With the increased wood requirements in 

 France, such a saving would be impossible unless the Germans can be 

 made to furnish the necessary raw wood products for French industries 

 and for reconstruction. The reason is clear. France used (before the 

 war) 11 million cubic meters of lumber and produced but 6 million — 

 thus importing almost 5 million. The normal consumption for five 

 years was thus 55 million, but for the period 1920 to 1924, Huffel esti- 

 mates France will require 160 million cubic meters, and concludes that 

 Germany must furnish this deficit. To show that this is practicable, he 

 summarizes German resources from the official statistics for 1900. 

 The totals are interesting: 8,270,133 hectares (Prussian) and 13,556,037 

 (total all states without Alsace-Lorraine) estimated to yield by clear 

 cutting the following number of cubic meters on the stump (on reel) : 



Volume in thousand cubic meters. 



Age class Oak Beech Scotch pine Spruce and fir 



61- 80 6,380 35,500 71,400 57,690 



81-100 7,800 47,100 67,300 63,120 



Over 100 27,510 91,410 96,050 79,680 



Grand total, 652,000,000 thousand cubic meters. 



Of this amount the States own 338 million cubic meters (about 84i/2 

 billion board feet, counting 4 thousand cubic meters to 1,000 board 

 feet), of which 183 million cubic meters is over 100 years of age. 



Huffel shows that to cut such an amount in a few years would be 

 clearly impossible. But with an output of 3 cubic meters per man per 

 day, 50,000 men would furnish France with the required raw wood 

 supply in a period of five years and have some left over for England 

 and Belgium. The normal German production was 20 million cubic 



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