99 



from a given tree, that is, for example, that approximately 65 per cent 

 of the cubic contents of the tree is made into sawlogs, and that no use is 

 made of the remaining 35 per cent. It is thus apparent that the total 

 cut of 135,014,335 cubic feet will be too high by the amount utilized in 

 making smaller products, such as mine timbers, posts, and cordwood, 

 from this otherwise unutilized portion. But since no allowance is made 

 for drain on the forests through decay, insects, and damage by fire and 

 storm this figure is probably not greatly in error. 



It is evident that the drain is in excess of the growth by at least 

 10.681,100 cubic feet per annum, but the actual excess of drain over 

 growth is very much greater, since the forests are not fully stocked. The 

 degree of stocking ordinarily runs from 34 per cent, as shown from ex- 

 tensive studies on the Ozark region (p. 45), to 80 per cent. The average 

 product per annum for the state is probably more nearly 80,800.000 cubic 

 feet than the 124,333,235 cubic feet possible for fully stocked forests. 

 W'e are probably cutting fully 54,200,000 cubic feet annually in excess 

 of the growth of 80,800,000 cubic feet, and continued overcutting at this 

 rate would strip the state of forests in 31 years. 



Until 1910 a larger acreage of improved land was being added an- 

 nually to the farms of Illinois than there was of improved land reverting 

 to waste ; but since 1910 more improved land by 250,928 acres has re- 

 verted to waste than has been improved — most convincing evidence that 

 development of unimproved lands to crops lands in Illinois has been car- 

 ried too far. The 1920 census shows that Illinois now has 1,577,663 

 acres of waste land on farms. The labor and materials which are con- 

 sumed in clearing, developing, and cropping such land are of greater value 

 than the crops produced ; and when ultimately the land is abandoned, it 

 often lies idle for decades before it is restocked by a forest inferior to 

 that originally cleared. It is probable that fully 2,700,000 acres of the 

 present forested area of Illinois, if the drain continues unchecked, will 

 revert to waste land unproductive of even the taxes. 



The stumpage value of the timber cut to make the total of 135,014,335 

 cubic feet above arrived at, amounts to $4,958,331. Thus by cutting 65 

 per cent more than grows, an average return of $1.64 per acre is secured, 

 from which must be paid taxes and land rental. This low return must 

 further decline as the growing stock is reduced through excess cutting, 

 until the wood-lots become waste land and the returns are zero. The 

 alternatives are waste land or wood land. 



By keeping the wood-lots fully stocked with the species normally 

 represented the average growth of 41.1 cubic feet per acre annually will 

 very nearly meet the drain of 44.7 cubic feet. By removing the slow 

 growing and inferior trees as thinnings are required, the annual yield may 

 be increased. The extremes in growth rates of different species of trees 

 are greatest for the bottomland types, and consequently managed bottom- 

 land forests offer an encouraging field for increase in production, yet a 

 greater growth per acre can be secured by encouraging the faster grow- 

 ing species on the uplands also. The yield tables 7, 8, pp. 96, 97, show 



