398 United States. 



Nearly half the country is forestless, grassy prairie 

 and plain, some 400 millicwi acres being of the latter de- 

 scription, while open prairie and brush forest, or waste 

 land occupies 600 million acres. 



Within the forest region of the East some 250 million 

 acres have been turned into farms, leaving still two- 

 thirds of the area either under woods, or else wasted by 

 fire. Although any reliable data regarding this acreage 

 are wanting, the area of really productive woodland in 

 this section may probably be set down as not exceeding 

 300 million acres, which would be nearly 40% of the 

 totalarea, varying from 13% in the Central agricul- 

 tural States to 50% in the Southern States; Maine, 

 New Hampshire and Arkansas being most densely 

 wooded, with over 60%. The Eocky Mountain and 

 Sierra forests, each with 100 million acres, would bring 

 the total productive woodland area to a round 500 mil- 

 lion acres, or about 26% of the whole. (Later esti- 

 mates increase this area to 550 million acres.) 



It is almost idle to attempt an estimate of the timber 

 still standing ready for the axe; not only are the data 

 for such an estimate too scanty, but standards of what 

 is considered merchantable change continuously and 

 vitiate the value of such estimates. The writers own 

 estimate, made some years ago, of 2,500 billion feet, 

 which by others has been treated as authoritative and 

 forming a basis for predicting the time of a timber 

 famine, must be considered only as a reasonable guess, 

 ventured for the purpose of accentuating the need of 

 more conservative treatment of these exhaustible sup- 

 plies, in comparison with the consumption which repre- 



