CHAPTER II 

 WHAT THE FOEESTS DO FOE US 



THE full value of forests to a community or nation 

 is difficult to estimate because the forest touches the 

 life of the people in so many different ways. Aside 

 from supplying the saw timber of commerce, furniture, 

 etc., it is used in structural ways for which no good 

 substitute has yet been obtained. Even the substitutes, 

 like steel and cement which are replacing timber in 

 the building of bridges and houses, etc., require a con- 

 siderable amount of lumber for their manufacture and 

 transportation. 



Minor products, like shoe pegs, spools and musical 

 instruments consume an amount of timber that is as- 

 tonishing. In New York State over 8,000,000 board 

 feet of lumber are used each year in the manufacture 

 of wooden novelties, and over 6,000,000 board feet are 

 consumed in the manufacture of clocks and toys. 

 Houses, furniture, railroads, shipyards, newspapers and 

 books all depend upon the products of the forest. A 

 shortage of timber would be almost as disastrous as a 

 famine in foodstuffs. 



Statistics are likely to be dry reading, and for that 

 reason when the amount of lumber consumed in the 

 various industries of this country is given, it will be 

 expressed in terms common to our daily life. For 

 instance, in the United States we manufacture each 

 year no less than 40,000,000,000 board feet of sawn 

 lumber. This stupendous amount is sufficient to make 

 a boardwalk three feet wide six times around the world, 



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