TIMBER FOR 



uct and is not manufactured in accordance with specifications 

 and methods which give certain uniform results in the finished 

 product, it follows that general knowledge of lumber should be 

 supplemented by the results of technical investigations as to 

 the character and quality of different woods, under varying 

 conditions of growth and service. 



Available Good lumber is just as obtainable, possesses the 

 Supply same structural characteristics, and is as safe and 



economical today as it ever was. In fact, with wider 

 transportation facilities, better seasoning and the closer classifi- 

 cation of kinds and grades, timber is more generally available 

 and the quality better adapted to varying requirements than 

 twenty years ago. Supplementing these advantages, are the 

 recent data on physical characteristics, and the development 

 of wood-preserving and fire-retarding materials and processes. 



The United States Government estimates conservatively 

 place the amount of merchantable standing timber in the 

 United States at over 2800 billion feet. This is slightly more 

 than half of the original stand, the difference representing 

 what has been utilized for general consumption, what has been 

 cleared from agricultural lands and what has been destroyed 

 by forest fires and waste. During the past fifty years there 

 has been a natural shifting in the sources of lumber production, 

 with a less marked change in the centers of consumption. In- 

 dustrial development has moved gradually westward and 

 southward, following to an extent the opening up of new forest 

 regions as railroad facilities were extended. In some of the 

 earlier regions of greatest lumber production the supply has 

 been greatly reduced, although local requirements are still sup- 

 plied, except in large dimension timbers which have to come 

 from the more distant points. But nowhere, even in the tree- 

 less regions, is there any difficulty in obtaining structural timber 

 or wood products of kind and quality to meet all needs. 



Most of the present available standing timber is in five great 

 forest regions, namely, the Northern, Central, Southern, Rocky 



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