172 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 



the truth is that the original forest area comprised 850,- 

 000,000 acres, 300,000,000 having been cleared to date, 

 and already we have burned and used 2,700,000,000,000 

 board feet 200,000,000,000 feet more than is now 

 standing since the Colonists landed on the Virginia 

 coast. The American forests, rich as they are, are by 

 no means inexhaustible. Of this area, three-fourths, 

 containing four-fifths of all the standing timber, is 

 privately owned, so that the future timber supply is 

 largely in the hands of the individual lumberman. Real- 

 izing that the future citizens will need forest products 

 the Federal Government has set aside the one hundred 

 .and fifty-five national forests, containing approximately 

 165,000,000 acres. This vast area administered by the 

 Forest Service contains approximately 600,000,000,000 

 board feet of lumber, has a total cash value of nearly 

 $2,000,000,000 and is open to the freest possible use. 

 Over one million dollars' worth of timber is sold each 

 year; one-sixth of the total meat supply grazes for a 

 portion of the year within the forest boundaries, farm 

 homesteads and mining claims can be acquired under 

 suitable regulations, hunters and campers have free 

 access and in short every part of the forest is put to its 

 best permanent use. 



Thirty-three States have forestry departments and 

 the total area of State forests amounts to 3,426,000 

 acres. In addition to the regular forestry departments 

 there are two hundred and thirtyrone local forestry or- 

 ganizations and forty-two associations for the protection 

 of timber land. There are ninety-seven forests, owned 

 and operated for the benefit of cities and towns ; no less 

 than sixty-three State forest experiment stations and 

 twenty-three institutions of college standing give de- 

 grees in forestry. 



