FORESTS OF THE WORLD 53 



timber in a country is less important than the amount per in- 

 habitant, and Asia, in spite of her great forest areas, possesses 

 only two and a half acres for each of her people, while South 

 America has thirty acres of timber for every man, woman, or 

 child. Of the European countries, Finland, Sweden, and Rus- 

 sia are richest in forest wealth. 



Canada has the largest forest area on the North American 

 continent, but a large part of it is in the far north where growth 

 is slow and the timber of little value. In Mexico only about 

 fifteen per cent of the country is forested. Once she possessed 

 extensive forests, but more than a thousand years ago an Indian 

 civilization flourished there and before it disappeared from the 

 face of the earth deforested millions of acres of Mexico's wood- 

 lands. 



In the United States about one-sixth of our original forest 

 land now bears virgin timber. In three centuries our forests 

 have retreated westward and are now so distant from the cen- 

 ters of demand that today we pay two hundred and fifty mil- 

 lions of dollars as our yearly freight bill to transport wood from 

 the far off forest to the lumber yard. 



As the number of people increases in the world there will 

 be a tendency for forested areas to further decrease to make 

 more open land for food crops. The proportion of forested land 

 will vary with the region. The poorer, unfertile lands, as well 

 as the lands whose climate is unfavorable to agriculture, will 

 always remain in forest. Low level countries will be able to get 

 along with a smaller portion of their land in forest than the 

 mountainous nations. But for both there will be limits of defor- 

 estation beyond which it will be unsafe to go. The limits of 

 safety of deforestation are governed by other factors than the 



