A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 295 



struction have been developed in which, instead of large timbers, 

 small wooden pieces connected in a lattice-like or truss-like manner, 

 or built up into laminated beams by the use of glue or bolts, are used. 

 By means of such combination of small wooden pieces, it is possible 

 to span considerable distances. One great advantage of the use of 

 wood in such construction lies in its relative cheapness. The small 

 size of the pieces makes it possible to saw them out of small logs and, 

 consequently, to utilize small timber where before only large logs 

 could be used. Similar types of construction are being developed in 

 this country. New ideas of engineering have also penetrated the 

 technique of building small wooden dwellings. These new architec- 

 tural ideas are opening up new and more economical uses of wood in 

 the fields where iron and concrete have been considered the only 

 suitable materials. 



THE WORLD TIMBER SUPPLY IS DECREASING 



Contrasted with the tendency of world wood consumption to rise 

 or at least to maintain itself is the rapid shrinkage in the world supply 

 of timber, particularly coniferous timber. The coniferous softwood 

 forests of the northern temperate zone are drawn upon by nearly all 

 countries of the world to meet the greater part of their needs for con- 

 struction timber and pulpwood. These forests have been progres- 

 sively decreasing in extent from the Middle Ages up to the present 

 time. Even within the last 40 years before the World War, the 

 destruction of the forests of the temperate zone continued at a rapid 

 rate. The forest area of Norway, for instance, decreased 1 1 percent 

 between 1875 and 1907. In European Russia 20 million acres of 

 forest were destroyed in the 33-year period from 1880 to 1913, and the 

 same process went on in Finland. During and after the war this 

 destruction was greatly accelerated in Russia. 



Even more serious than the reduction in forest area is the reduction 

 in timber supply and in growth capacity of the area that remains in 

 forests. At least one third of the timber consumed by the world in a 

 normal year is supplied by diminishing the forest resource, only two 

 thirds being replaced by growth. As a result of the continued deple- 

 tion of the original forests, only a few countries still have supplies of 

 coniferous timber in excess of their own needs. 



The three countries with the largest softwood timber resources are 

 Russia, Canada, and the United States. Together they embrace 

 some 80 percent of the coniferous forest area of the world. Before 

 the war these three countries furnished more than one half of the 

 entire world export of softwood lumber. Both in the United States 

 and in Canada, the annual cutting, combined with fires and losses 

 from insects and disease, greatly exceeds the annual growth. Sweden, 

 Finland, Poland, and the countries of central and southeastern Europe 

 cannot materially increase their exports of wood. In fact, most of 

 them cannot long keep up the present rate of exportation if they are 

 to satisfy their own requirements. 



The wood-importing countries of western Europe rely on Russia to 

 a considerable extent for their present and future supplies of coniferous 

 timber. It is most alarming, therefore, to learn from recent studies 

 that Russia, with an estimated two fifths of the world's coniferous 

 forest area, and whose timber resources were supposed to be virtually 



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