746 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST COMMODITY PRODUCTION AND USE BY REGIONS AND 

 SELECTED COUNTRIES 



Use per person 



1 Millions cubic meters roundwood equivalent. 



2 Data not available. 



vitae Guiaicum, ebony Diospyros, 

 balsa O chroma, poplar Populus) . 



The really substantial softwood 

 forest areas of the world are confined 

 to the United States and Canada, 

 northern Europe, and the Soviet Re- 

 public. The countries of Latin Ameri- 

 ca report only 2 percent of their total 

 productive forest area in softwoods, 

 which is 0.25 acre per person. The 

 relative scarcity in Australia and New 

 Zealand is reason for their extensive 

 softwood planting programs. Asia and 

 Africa have extremely limited natural 

 coniferous forests. 



It seems correct to say that coun- 

 tries that possess relatively abundant 

 supplies of softwood have a great com- 

 petitive advantage in maintaining or 



developing an industrial economy and 

 in advancing the general level of pub- 

 lic education. 



THE ESSENTIAL FACTS about the for- 

 ests of the earth as a source of commod- 

 ities may be summed up as follows: 

 They are distributed unevenly in rela- 

 tion to total area of regions and coun- 

 tries and per person. Substantial parts 

 are unproductive except for fuel. Sub- 

 stantial parts of the productive forests 

 are inaccessible. The softwood forests 

 are more unevenly distributed than are 

 all forests. Relative to the world, the 

 United States is in a strongly favorable 

 position in all these respects. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS Can- 



