18 Conditions Affecting New York Lumber Supply 
lands, and this is an inealeulable asset. It has been the custom 
to speak of standing forests as principal, and the yearly growth 
as interest. This is a true comparison if the soil is reckoned 
as a part of the forest. The loss of the timber has not bank- 
rupted New York, for the soil is still there to produce endless 
dividends of forest wealth. Thus, only the less valuable part 
of the principal is gone. A tree may grow in a century, but 
the restoration of soil may require many centuries. 
The State is rich in lands suitable for timber production. 
Out of the total of 29,600,000 acres of available* land surface, 
21,700,000 acres constitute the farms. The remaining 7,900,- 
000 acres are forest regions. But within the farms are 4,100,- 
000 aeres of woodlots and 2,800,000 additional acres of unim- 
proved lands which probably will find their highest use in 
growing timber. Hence upwards of 14,000,000 acres, or 
nearly half the land of the State, is suitable for forest and 
should eventually be devoted to that purpose. At present 62 
per cent of i contains material which is suitable neither for 
lumber nor pulp, and furnishes only fuel or acidwood. 
Fourteen million acres of forest, each acre growing 150 board 
feet per year, would supply about 2 billion feet annually, an 
amount considerably in excess of the total consumption of the 
secondary industries as reported in 1912. Such a general and 
sustained average yield is, of course, a result which the most 
optimistic would not expect for many decades, as it would 
represent what might be called at this time ideal conditions of 
management. Moreover, the areas suitable for forest are not 
available in their entirety as sources of timber supply, and parts 
of them should never be made so. 
Parts of the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and other forest 
regions possess such natural attractions that their value for 
recreational purposes outweighs even the present need for tim- 
ber. They should be permanent recreation grounds for the 
people. In addition, such lands as the steep mountain slopes 
“About 900,000 acres are reported to be occupied by cities, villages, 
and roads, 
