FORESTRY IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES 



The practice of forestry in the various countries of the world 

 varies from nothing at all to intensive methods employed in such 

 countries as France and Germany, where the necessity of conserving 

 and rebuilding wood resources has been recognized as a part of 

 national policy for more than a century. Some countries are still 

 waste fully exploiting their resources of standing timber. Some, like 

 Palestine and Syria, today show the results of this exploitation 

 centuries ago, boasting little vestige of their original resources. 



The World's forest area is estimated roughly to be about 7,500 

 million acres. Asia and South America contain about 2000 million 

 acres each, while North America is estimated to possess 1 ,444,000,000 

 acres; Africa, 797,000,000; Europe, 774,000,000; Australia and 

 Oceania, 283,000,000 acres. Annually some 56,000,000,000 cubic feet 

 of wood are cut from the forest areas of the world. 



Conditions of supply and demand, of course, vary widely for the 

 various parts of the world. The relative possessions in coniferous 

 trees and in hardwoods are of wide variation as well. Extent of 

 public ownership of forest resources ranges from very high to very 

 low percentages, with similar extremes in the scope of knowledge of 

 forestry in the broad sense. 



To attempt an estimate and analysis of the forest resources, prac- 

 tices and other data of the various countries is beyond the scope of this 

 ALMANAC. Such information can be found in no better or more 

 authoritative volumes than the two entitled The Forest Resources of 

 the World, compiled and written by Raphael Zon and William N. 

 Sparhawk, forest economists of the United States Forest Service. 

 In this volume, therefore, only brief treatment will be given to the 

 detailed situation, the aim being simply to indicate the general progress 

 of the forestry movement abroad. 



Afghanistan 



The forests of Afghanistan cover barely two million acres, have 

 no commercial importance and serve only to provide the inhabitants 

 with firewoods and timber. 

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