490 THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The forests of the United States, in spite of the great and increasing drains made upon them, are capable of 

 yielding annually for many years longer a larger amount of material than has yet been drawn from them, even 

 with our present reckless methods of forest management. The great pine forest of the north has already, it is true, 

 suffered fatal inroads. The pine which once covered New England and New York has already disappeared. 

 Pennsylvania is nearly stripped of her pine, which once appeared inexhaustible. The great northwestern pineries 

 are not yet exhausted, and with newly-introduced methods, by which logs onco supposed inaccessible are now 

 profitably brought to the mills, they may be expected to increase the volume of their annual product for a few 

 years longer in response to the growing demands of the great agricultural population fast covering the treeless 

 midcoutineutal plateau. The -area of pine forest, however, remaining in the great pine-producing states of 

 Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota is dangerously small in proportion to the country's consumption of white 

 pine lumber, and the entire exhaustion of these forests in a comparatively short time is certain. The wide areas 

 now covered in New England by a vigorous second growth of white pine, although insignificant in extent and 

 productiveness in comparison with the forests it replaces, must not be overlooked in considering the pine supply of 

 the country. These new forests, yielding already between two and three hundred million feet of lumber annually, 

 are capable of great future development. 



The pine belt of the south Atlantic region still contains immense quantities of timber uuequaled for all 

 purposes of construction, although unsuited to take the place of the white pine of the north. The southern pine 

 forests, although stripped from the banks of streams flowing into the Atlantic, are practically untouched in the 

 Gulf states, especially in those bordering the Mississippi river. These forests contain sufficient material to long 

 supply all possible demands which can be made upon them. 



The hard-wood forests of the Mississippi basin are still, in certain regions at least, important, although the 

 best walnut, ash, cherry, and yellow poplar have been largely culled. Two great bodies of hard-wood timber, 

 however, remain, upon which comparatively slight inroads have yet been made. The most important of these 

 forests covers the region occupied by the southern Alleghany Mountain system, embracing southwestern Virginia, 

 West Virginia, western North and South Carolina, and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Here oak unequaled in 

 quality abounds. Walnut is still not rare, although not found in any very large continuous bodies, and cherry, 

 yellow poplar, and other woods of commercial importance are common. The second great body of hard wood, largely 

 oak, is found west of the Mississippi river, extending from central Missouri to western Louisiana. The forests of 

 Michigan, especially those of the northern peninsula, still abound in considerable bodies of hard wood, principally 

 maple. Throughout the remainder of the Atlantic region the hard-wood forests, although often covering considerable 

 areas, have everywhere lost their best timber, and are either entirely insufficient to supply the local demand of the 

 present population, or must soon become so. 



In the Pacific region the great forests of fir which extend along the coast region of Washington territory and 

 Oregon are still practically intact. Fire and the ax have scarcely made a perceptible impression upon this magnificent 

 accumulation of timber. Great forests of pine still cover the California sierras through nearly their entire extent; 

 the redwood forest of the coast, however, once, all things considered, the most important and valuable body of 

 timber in the United States, has already suffered seriously, and mapy of its best and most accessible trees have 

 been removed. This forest still contains a large amount of timber, although its extent and productive capacity has 

 been generally exaggerated. The demand for redwood, the only real substitute for white pine produced in the 

 forests of the United States, is rapidly increasing, and even at the present rate of consumption the commercial 

 importance of this forest must soon disappear. 



The pine forests which cover the western slopes of the northern Kocky mountains and those occupying the 

 high plateau and inaccessible mountain ranges of central Arizona and southwestern New Mexico have not yet 

 suffered serious damage at the hands of man. The remaining forests of the Pacific region, of little beyond local 

 importance, are fast disappearing. The area of these interior forests is diminished every year by fire and by the 

 demands of a careless and indifferent population ; and their complete extermination is probably inevitable. 



The forest wealth of the country is still undoubtedly enormous. Great as it is, however, it is not inexhaustible, 

 and the forests of the United States, in spite of their extent, variety, and richness, in spite of the fact that the 

 climatic conditions of a large portion of the country are peculiarly favorable to the development of forest growth, 

 cannot always continue productive if the simplest laws of nature governing their growth are totally disregarded. 



The judicious cutting of a forest in a climate like that of the Atlantic or Pacific Coast regions entails no serious 

 or permanent loss. A crop ready for the harvest is gathered for the benefit of the community; trees which have 

 reached their prime are cut instead of being allowed to perish naturally, and others take their place. The 

 permanence of the forest in regions better suited for the growth of trees than for general agriculture may thus be 

 insured. Two causes, however, are constantly at work destroying the permanence of the forests of the country 

 and threatening their total extermination as sources of national prosperity fire and browsing animals inflict 

 greater permanent injury upon the forests of the country than the ax, recklessly and wastefully as it is generally used 

 against them. 



