60 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



farms, and for one I would be willing to sacrifice as much more for 

 the same purpose. We could afford to give up the forests for an 

 object that would more than double our wealth and population. 

 For agricultural purposes we need not fear the depletion of our 

 forests. 



The forests are composed of a great variety of trees, some of 

 which possess little value save for fuel, while the arts and sciences 

 are utilizing others for various commercial products. Fifty years 

 ago our spruce was considered of little value, but while we are 

 gathered here our forests are full of lumbermen, and when the icy 

 bands of winter loosen their grasp upon the streams, there will be 

 millions of spruce logs floating down to the mills, where they will 

 be converted into lumber. In fact, spruce has become the most val- 

 uable lumber in the erection of modern buildings. Millions of feet 

 are shipped every 3'ear over our railroads and by water to other 

 States and countries. Nor, is this all, for at several points along 

 our rivers are huge mills grinding our spruces and other woods into 

 pulp, which other mills more or less remote are converting into paper. 

 It may not be generally known to you that nearly every newspaper 

 in the United States is printed on paper made entirely or largely 

 from wood. You ma}' think this applies onl}' to the cheap qualities 

 of paper used by our newspaper publishers ; but this wood pulp 

 under the skillful manipulation of the chemist enters very largely 

 into the tissues of many other papers. The paper on which a very 

 handsome pamphlet was recently printed in Maine, was made en- 

 tirely of wood pulp, and its beauty of finish has been favorably 

 noted by many who have examined it. The paper on which these 

 notes of mine are written is called "chemical" paper, but aside from 

 coloring matter it comes from the Maine forests. It is one of the 

 easiest papers to write on I have ever used. It takes the ink well, 

 does not catch the pen points and when written shows the ink clearly 

 and yet it is nothing but wood. 



*'Take everything you come to, that is three inches through, ten feet 

 from the ground," said a Bangor lumberman to his foreman. This 

 direction seems to be followed by too many of the Maine lumbermen. 

 If the log is too small to cut up it may be ground into pulp. 



The Maine hard woods now have a value beyond the supply of 

 fuel. Maple and yellow birch are in demand for floor boards and 

 other purposes, and when finished for use sell in our cities from 

 •.00 to $60.00 per thousand feet. The shovel maufacturers pay 



