THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



69 



COMPOSITION. 



The species which are most valued in international trade are the 

 conifers, such as pine, spruce, hemlock, fir, and larch. Coniferous 

 forests, on the whole, as German experience has shown, produce a 

 larger percentage of structural timber than hard woods. In Ger- 

 many, therefore, there is a tendency to increase the area under coni- 

 fers at the expense of that under hard woods. This tendency is also 

 often prompted by necessity. Hard woods, as a, rule,, require, better 

 soil than conifers, and in countries where there is need for more 

 agricultural land to provide for an increasing population, the forests 

 are more and more relegated to the poorer soils where conifers can 

 be grown to better advantage than hard woods. The forest wealth 

 of a country is therefore determined not only by the extent of the 

 forest, but also by the species that make up the forest. As has 

 already been pointed out, the richest forest, from a commercial stand- 

 point, is that of Sweden, which consists chiefly of but two species, 

 pine and spruce. In the United States, as a result of the reckless 

 cutting of conifers, especially in the northeastern States, and of 

 repeated fires, thousands of acres of coniferous forests in New England 

 have been converted into poor hard- wood forests. In the Catskills one 

 finds thousands of acres originally covered by hemlock now under 

 scrubby hard woods, and the same is true in Maine and New Hamp- 

 shire. If the soil is at all suited to hard woods, they are favored, 

 because of their sprouting capacity, by reckless cutting and burning. 

 Thus, while Germany has increased its area of coniferous forests, the 

 area of hard-wood forests in this country has probably increased at 

 the expense of the coniferous forest area. Below are given the coun- 

 tries and the predominance of either hard wood or coniferous forests : 



Distribution of hard woods and conifers, by countries. 



It is hard to tell what proportion of the total forest area of the 

 United States is under hard woods. From the rather conflicting 

 estimates of the present stand of conifers and hard woods it would 

 seem that the proportion of conifers to hard woods by volume is 

 about 4 to 1 (on the basis of Doctor Fernow's estimate of 2,000,000,- 

 000,000 feet b. m. of both kinds, and the estimate of 400,000,000 

 feet b. m. of hard woods by the American Lumberman). 



Of all the countries of the world the United States is the only one 

 which has such a variety of conditions as to favor the growth of a 

 great number of valuable species, both conifers and hard woods, over 

 large areas. 



