422 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



thirst, to irrigate their lands, to drive their mills, to fill their rivers 

 deep for the vast traffic of inland navigation ; in a word, the forest 

 as producer and custodian of the necessaries of life and happiness, 

 is the true message of Arbor Day. (F. S. Cir. 96; Mich. E. S. 

 B. 33.) 



COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF THE FOREST. 



A glance at the following data should at once convince the 

 farmer of the financial benefit to be derived from the economic 

 handling of his forest trees. The value of the forest products of 

 the United States in 1907, the last year for which detailed data are 

 available, was approximately $1,280,000,000. The principal items 

 are shown below. The value in every case is stated in round num- 

 bers, and is estimated at the point of production. 



Lumber, shingles, and lath $ 750,000,000 



Firewood 250,000,000 



Poles, posts, and rails 100,000,000 



Hewed cross-ties 60,000,000 



Cooperage stock 35,000,000 



Naval stores 30,000,000 



Pulpwood 20,000,000 



Tanbark and extracts 15,000,000 



Bound mine timbers 10,000,000 



Miscellaneous 10,000,000 



Total . $1,280,000,000 



(F. S. Cir. 166.) 



Lumber. The greatest output of the forest is that of lumber. 

 It is usually made from large timber of high quality. Lumber is 

 being made in commercial quantities from thirty different kinds of 

 trees of which the softwoods furnish 77 per cent of the total yearly 

 supply and the hardwoods 23 per cent. (F. S. Cir. 171.) 



Shingle Timber. Shingles are made to some extent from a 

 large number of woods, but the several varieties of cedar furnish 

 nearly three-fourths of the total quantity. Some cedar shingles are 

 made in the New England and northeastern states, and a consid- 

 erable number in the Lake states, but a very large proportion of the 

 cedar shingles are cut in Washington from the giant arborvitae, the 

 so-called "red cedar" of that region. Another species of the same 

 genus is the arborvitse or "white cedar" of the Lake states. Cypress 

 is the next wood in importance in point of shingle production. 

 The making of cypress shingles, however, is beginning to decrease. 

 Manufacturers are finding it more profitable to work into other 

 forms the material which formerly went into shingles. Yellow 

 pine and white pine shingles have decreased still more heavily. The 

 only important kinds of shingles which show any increase in pro- 

 duction are cedar and red wood, and they are coming to occupy 

 more and more a predominating position in the shingle-making 

 industry. As is the case with the various kinds of lumber, the mill 

 values of shingles have risen during the past few years. (F. S. 

 B. 77.) 



Firewood. The greater part of the firewood is obtained from 

 farmers' woodlots which often have very little value for other pur- 



