REPORT ON FORESTS. 23 



trace now exists. Certainly over 100 water-powers once utilized 

 for sawing lumber are no longer in use for that purpose. 



Reviewing all of the evidence which we have collected, there- 

 fore, we state with confidence that there was progressive cutting 

 and clearing-up of the original forest all over the State, from its 

 settlement until 1860, but that at the latter date very little 

 original forest remained. This cutting was most severe about 

 1850, and from 1850 to 1860 was the period of maximum deforesta- 

 tion. The forest was then younger and smaller, with a larger 

 proportion of stump and brush land than has prevailed at any 

 time since. The cutting of very young growth has decreased to 

 a marked extent in recent years, and the average size and age of 

 the forest has increased. At present not two per cent, of the 

 forest is cut annually, so that at the present rate of cutting all of 

 the forest may attain an age of fifty years. 



VALUE OF FOREST PRODUCT. 



It is not easy to arrive at an accurate valuation of the forest 

 product of the State. Much of the product is used directly on 

 the farms where it is cut, as fuel or for fencing ; there is also a 

 ready sale for railroad ties, telegraph and telephone poles, piling, 

 etc., in all parts of the State, and these products do not go to the 

 mill, but usually quite direct from the owner or lumberman to 

 the consumer. 



We estimate that the consumption for domestic fuel at present 

 is 752,000 cords, and for fuel in glass-works and brick-kilns, etc., 

 45,000 cords, or about 800,000 cords consumed as fuel. There is 

 a rule commonly accepted among the forest owners that the 

 forest will produce one cord of wood for each year that it has 

 been growing. This seems a fairly accurate average for the 

 deciduous forest from 30 to 50 years old, but too high for the 

 pines. Adopting this figure, the above fuel-consumption will 

 absorb the yearly product of 800,000 acres of forest. It may be 

 estimated to be worth $400,000 on the stump and $2,400,000 in 

 the market at the point of consumption. 



The Report on Water-Supply, 1894, gave 261 saw-mills and 

 wood-working establishments run by w r ater-power, using 4,085 

 net horse-power. It will be seen that these are small establish- 



