DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 157 



thought, so far as statistics are concerned, and can speak only generally. There has 

 been a great impetus to trade in the South during the past five years. You will be 

 safe in computing the consumption of all kinds of wood at 500 feet per capita of the 

 population, and at 8.000 feet per acre, it would take about 4.000.000 acres per year 

 for its supply. In Southern timber both the Long-leaved and Loblolly Pine grow 

 and can be reproduced in their native soil, so that the statement above that '"pine 

 does not reproduce itself " applies only to the White Pine of the North. I know of 

 no good reason why Government endeavors to foster and perpetuate large areas in 

 tlie'South would not be eminently successful. But it should not be delayed, as the 

 wastefulness which has brought the White Pine resources of the North" so near to 

 their extinction is rapidly doing the same for the Long-leaved and Loblolly of the 

 South. It is to me a som-ce of surprise that some of the lumbermen of the country, 

 men who are or have been for scores of years tramping through the forests, are but 

 now awakening to a perception of the true condition of our forests. That they have 

 opened their eyes to the truth is made evident to those who, like myself, are in posi- 

 tion to know of the search which is being made for desirable bodies of timber, by 

 men who six years ago set down the Government estimates and statements as veriest 

 bosh, and loudly asserted that no diminution in present annual supplies would be 

 seen for a generation to come. 



BUILDING MATERIAL. 



A most nnbusiness-like manner of calculating lias been practised in 

 order to ascertain how long the Pine timber supply may l3e expected 

 to last in the several States at the present rate of cutting, as if each 

 State were surrounded by a Chinese wall or a prohibitory export 

 tariff. Evidently we can come to practical conclusions only by cal- 

 culating for the country as a whole, and by keeping in view the 

 aggregate supplies of at least the White Pine, Spruce, Hemlock, and 

 Southern Pine areas and the demand ux)on them; as practically they 

 are used interchangeably and in the future will be still more so to fill 

 our iuimense requirements for building material, other soft woods like 

 Whitewood, &c. , supplying only a small addition. 



Taking the estimates of the census of 1880 as a basis, and, to avoid 

 any danger of an underestimate, adding one-third to the amount 

 of the above-named timbers reported as standing, we find that in 

 round numbers 600,000,000,000 feet B. M. might be considered then 

 standing to supply a yearly demand of not less than 12,000,000,000 

 feet, making the exhaustion of Eastern-grown building timber sup- 

 plies appear reasonably certain within the next fifty years. 



That the additional supplies of Redwood and other Pacific coast 

 timbers will hardly com^Densate for timber destroyed by fire, as well 

 as for the drafts on Northern Hemlock for tan-bark and on Southern 

 Pine for turpentine orcharding, and for the additional requirements 

 of the growing population, may also be confidently asserted. 



However much these calculations may differ from the actual state 

 of affairs, they are sufficiently near to call for more than a passing 

 consideration on the part of those who have any interest in the future 

 welfare of the country. 



The second growth of White Pine, pointed out as coming to use 

 in the New England States, is cut mostly when only fit for box- 

 boards, and will not figure much in the great market for building 

 materials. It may be mentioned here that, according to experiments 

 made in Germany on Scotch and White Pine, the requisite quality 

 for building purposes which the Scotch Pine attains in seventy years 

 is hardly attained in ninety years by the AVhite Pine, while, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Mohr, the Long-leafed Pine requires two hundred years' 

 growth to furnish timber of good quality. The new spontaneous 

 growth of this class of material, left to Nature's kind but slow methods 



