56 



WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES OF MARYLAND 



TABLE II. Cut of Miscellaneous Forest Products for 1908. 



This does not include the immense amount of wood, fencing and 

 other material used on the farms, but only that which is cut and sold. 



If the cut of all forest products enumerated in the above table be 

 reduced to cubic feet, and the cut of lumber, lath, and shingles be 

 likewise reduced to the same unit for comparison, the total forest pro- 

 duction for 1908 will represent 77,565,000 cubic feet. 



THE TIMBER KESOURCES. 



One of the serious handicaps to the universal practice of forestry 

 is the lack of information concerning our forest resources. There 

 has been for a long time in every State more or less speculation about 

 the amount of standing timber. The estimates have differed so widely 

 as to leave much room for doubt, and it has discredited the ability of 

 anyone to speak with authority in advocating a forest policy that is 

 in accord with the existing facts. This lack of exact knowledge has 

 been most keenly felt for several years, so that now a survey of our 

 forest resources has become a recognized necessity. Maryland has 

 made excellent progress in this work, and now has completed accurate 

 forest surveys for eighteen counties, with partial surveys of the other 

 five, which serve as a fair basis for estimating so that very reliable 

 information is at hand. The following tabular summary (Table 

 III) shows the extent of our forest resources as compiled from these 

 surveys. 



This table shows that 35 per cent of the land area of the State 

 is wooded. Of this wooded area scarcely 1 per cent is virgin forest, 

 the rest is cut-over land in various stages of growth, some good and 

 much of it very poor, depending upon the extent of the cutting, the 

 time that has elapsed since it was cut over, and the care it has re- 

 ceived, especially in regard to forest fires. 



