FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



317 



The Gulf States and the Southwestern States 

 are still competent to furnish immense supplies 

 of their native pines suitable for timber, from 

 which comparatively little has as yet been 

 drawn. The estimates are: Alabama, long- 

 leaved and short-leaved pines (Pinus australis 

 and Pinus mitis), 21,192,000,000 feet ; Missis- 

 sippi, the same species, 23,975,000,000 feet; 

 Louisiana, the same species, 48,213,000,000 

 feet ; Arkansas, short-leaved pine (Pinus mi- 

 tis), 41,315,000,000 feet; Texas, long-leaved 

 pine (Pinus australis), short-leaved pine (Pinus 

 mitis), and loblolly pine (Pinus toda), 67,508,- 

 500,000 feet ; in all, 202,203,500,000 feet. The 

 long-leaved pine, which forms the mass of the 

 timber of the Southern Atlantic coasts, and 

 constitutes about two fifths of the timber of 

 the five States last named, is considered more 

 suitable for heavy constructions than the white 

 pine of the North, but is harder to work, and 

 inferior to white pine for the uses to which 

 that wood is so extensively applied on account 

 of its fullness of resin. The short-leaved pine 

 of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Eastern Texas, is 

 regarded as a valuable building material, but 

 not as desirable as either the white or the 

 long-leaved species. The Southern forests are 

 destitute of undergrowth, and have been peri- 

 odically burned over ; and there is little prob- 

 ability of their place, when they have been 

 once removed, being taken by a natural second 

 growth. 



Except in the case of the redwood-forests of 

 California, no attempt has been made to esti- 

 mate the amount, in feet, of the timber-supply 

 of the Pacific States. The redwood (Sequoia, 

 sempervirens), the best substitute for white 

 pine, forms a strip of forests of gigantic trees 

 along the coast of California, from the north- 

 ern boundary of the State to below the Bay 

 of Monterey, which contained in 1880, 25,825,- 

 000,000,000 feet of timber. From these forests 

 186,635,000 feet had been cut during the year. 

 The forests of California, outside of the red- 

 wood belt, and those of Oregon and Washing- 

 ton Territory, are indicated by maps represent- 

 ing their area, and coloring to show their rela- 

 tive density, but not enough is known of the 

 country they cover to make any estimate of 

 their capacity possible. They are very dense, 

 and consist chiefly of coniferous trees of dif- 

 ferent species of very large growth, with chest- 

 nut-oaks (Quercus densiflora) in the northern 

 coast-regions of California, and chestnut-oaks 

 in the southern part, and the Pacific white oak 

 (Quercus Garry ana) in the river- valleys of Ore- 

 gon. The most valuable and the prevailing 

 tree is the red or yellow fir (Pseudotsuga Doug- 

 lasii), which is the most important tree of the 

 Coast Range forests of California, and forms 

 seven^ eighths of the forests of Oregon and 

 Washington Territory. It is a strong, resinous 

 timber, hard to work, better suited for pur- 

 poses of outside construction than for other 

 uses, and is not regarded as equal to the long- 

 leaved pine of the Southern States, while it is 



far inferior for general purposes to white pine 

 and redwood. Except the oaks which have 

 been mentioned, the Pacific forests contain no 

 hard-woods. 



These reports of the Census Bureau give an 

 accurate measurement of the waste of Ameri- 

 can forests, which had previously been only a 

 subject of vague estimate. They show that the 

 States which were once the "timber States " 

 of the country the Northern New England 

 States, New York, and Pennsylvania can not 

 be included in that class any longer; and that 

 the States whence the present supplies are 

 drawn will soon cease to furnish them. The 

 whole amount of white pine cut in the United 

 States during the census year was about 11,- 

 000,000,000 feet ; this, if continued, would ex- 

 haust the total supply of the country in eight 

 or ten years. The capacity of the Canadian 

 forests has not been as accurately measured as 

 that of the forests of the United States, but 

 it is estimated that they can not be depended 

 upon for more than about five years' supply at 

 the rate of consumption prevailing in the Uni- 

 ted States. The forests of the Southern States 

 and the Pacific coast contain immense quanti- 

 ties of other timber which might be substituted 

 for white pine; but it is only a question of 

 time when they will be as recklessly attacked 

 as the forests of the North, and when they in 

 their turn shall be nearly exhausted. 



AREA OF FORESTS IN EUROPE. It is calcu- 

 lated, by those who have devoted attention to 

 the condition of different countries with re- 

 spect to their forests, that the well-being of a 

 country is best promoted when 25 per cent 

 of its area is left in forest. In all Europe 

 the percentage of woodland area is a little less 

 than 30. In Russia and Finland, it is 40; in 

 Sweden and Norway, 34'1 ; in Austria, 29*1 ; 

 in Germany, 26*1 ; in Turkey and Roumania, 

 22-2; in Italy, 22; in Switzerland, 18; in 

 France, 17'3; in Greece, 14'3 ; in Spain, 7'3; 

 in Holland and Belgium, 7 ; in Great Britain, 

 4-1 ; and in Denmark, 3 -4. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY CONGRESS. The rapid 

 waste of the forests of the United States has 

 been for several years growing in prominence 

 as a subject of consideration, and an increasing 

 degree of attention has been given to the study 

 of means for preventing further destruction of 

 woods and remedying that which has already 

 been made. National and State laws have 

 been enacted to encourage the planting of trees 

 on the prairies, where the lack of them has 

 been felt from the beginning of settlement; 

 but the denudation of regions once well 

 wooded, which threatens to bring complete 

 ruin upon them as agricultural lands, has not 

 been opposed by any efficient legislation. 

 Much has been done, however, by voluntary 

 effort and association to call attention to the 

 matter, and to start a popular movement for 

 the protection of the forests that may result 

 in securing practical and efficient measures. 

 The American Forestry Association was formed 



