72 North American Forests and Forestry 



most. It should not be understood that after the 

 time which we have above set for the disappearance 

 of the white pine, together with the Norway and 

 hemlock which are lumbered in the same area, not 

 another log of merchantable size will be cut there. 

 On the contrary, some white pine, for local con- 

 sumption or special uses, will continue to be pro- 

 duced, but it will not be enough to cut a figure in 

 the lumber markets of the entire country. The 

 same is true of the southern or yellow pine supply. 

 This refers, of course, to the cutting of virgin pine. 

 If we could proceed to cut the second growth after 

 the original material is consumed, we would have no 

 trouble. But such a thing will not be possible if we 

 merely trust to the natural reproduction without 

 taking the steps to promote and protect such re- 

 production, which will be treated of in the second 

 part of this book. 



The only other way out of the dilemma will be to 

 substitute for the use of lumber in construction 

 other materials, wherever that is possible. We 

 cannot rely on importation from foreign countries 

 for the reason that there is nowhere a source of 

 supply of building timber even approximately ade- 

 quate to our present demand. It should be ob- 

 served that we consume annually about four times 

 as much lumber per capita as England, and three 

 times as much as Germany. That this will have to 

 be changed during the next fifty years, there can be 

 no doubt, even if we adopt a policy of systematic 

 timber culture during the next decade. 



