used by railroads in erecting bridges and trestlework and in fencing is a 

 great item, and the consumption of wood for fuel by locomotives has 

 attained such proportions that other kinds of fuel are being resorted to by 

 many of the roads, owing to the high price and difficulty of obtaining 

 wood, even where the roads traverse a partially wooded district As 

 an instance of the amount of wood so consumed, an official report shows 

 that on the New York Central Railroad there is required for each 

 twenty-five miles passed over by each locomotive one and three-quarters 

 cords of wood, and this even is supposed to be one-third less than the 

 amount actually burned by them. 



The value of timber as an article of commerce may be ascertained 

 '(from the fact that the production in 1881, as given by the census, equals 

 ^111,633,862 cubic feet of partially manufactured timber alone, the conse- 

 quent operations on which involve an enormous outlay. The term 

 partial manufacture is used because it only really embraces the opera- 

 tions necessary to prepare the timber from the tree, which is not, strictly 

 speaking, manufactured at all. It is simply analogous to pig iron or 

 crude petroleum, or other mineral productions separated from their 

 earthy particles previous to transportation. Thus timber squared, sawn 

 and planed cannot be said to be manufactured, because it is not actually 

 made into the particular shape in which it could enter domestic service, 

 except in very rough or ordinary cases, but only sufficient of the useless 

 material has been removed to render it available for the hands of skilled 

 workmen, or to prevent useless expenditure in freight. In addition to 

 the cubic feet of timber alluded to, the census enumerates 22,324,407 pine 

 logs, 26,025,584 other logs, 192,241 masts and spars, 41,881 thousands of 

 staves, 98,311 cords of laths, 400,415 cords of tan bark and 10,993,234 cords 

 of firewood as the product of the year, whilst the value of the pearl and 

 potash produced was $345,096, and of bark extract for tanning purposes 

 $286,250. 



EXPORTS OF THE FOREST. 



The export of square timber, deals, staves, masts, birch and other 

 hardwood timber for furniture purposes to Great Britain, and of sawn 

 lumber and boards to the United States, to the West Indies and to South 

 America forms one of the most important sections of the industrial pur- 

 suits of this country. The total export of forest products of Canada is 

 shown as follows, the figures being taken from the Trade and Navigation 

 Returns for the last three years : 



Making a total of. j $25^90,1^31 $25,207,366 | $26,761392 



