Introductory. 5 



that their population is estimated at 180 million and 

 that they use 30 cubic feet of wood per capita, of which 

 12 cubic feet is log timber; or altogether they use 

 2,200 million cubic feet of this latter description, of 

 which they import in round numbers 1,000 million 

 at a cost of about 250 million dollars; their forest 

 acreage of 100 million acres being insufficient to pro- 

 duce, even under careful management as in Germany, 

 more than two-thirds of their needs. And the wood 

 consumption in all these nations is growing at the 

 rate of lj4 to 2 per cent, annually. 



4. The deficiency is at present supplied by the ex- 

 port countries, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Austria- 

 Hungary, Canada and United States, and these 

 countries themselves also increasing their con- 

 sumption, are beginning to feel the drain on their 

 forest resources, which are for the most part merely 

 roughly exploited. 



5. If we assume a log timber requirement by the 

 500 million people of 6000 million cubic feet and 

 could secure what France annually produces, namely 

 a little less than 9 cubic feet of such timber per acre, 

 the area supposed to be under forest would amply 

 suffice. But a large part of it is in fact withdrawn from 

 useful production and of the balance not more than 250 

 million acres at best are as yet under management for 

 continuous production. Hence attention to forestry 

 is an urgent necessity for every industrial nation. 



The history of the forest in all forest countries 

 shows the same periods of development. 



First hardly recognized as of value or even as 



