22 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



woodland area of but 2,750,000 acres, or a little more than 

 one-sixteenth of an acre per head. 



The question of greatest importance, however, is that deal- 

 ing with the abnormal consumption of timber for industrial 

 purposes, such as mining, railroad building and maintenance, 

 and the numerous industries connected with the housing, 

 feeding, and clothing of a large manufacturing population. 

 Here, again. Great Britain affords the most striking 

 example of a country requiring large quantities of timber 

 in excess of the purely domestic consumption. According 

 to the Board of Trade returns for 1008, Great Britain 

 imported 9,200,000 loads of round, hewn, and sawn fir, oak, 

 and other timbers, of which 7,600,000 loads came from 

 Scandinavia, Russia, Austria - Hungary, Germany, etc., 

 and the remainder from Canada and the United States, 

 Of this quantity, about one-third consisted of pit wood, 

 while pulp Avood, paper, etc., represented an additional 

 2,000,000 tons, making a total import of about 12,000,000 

 tons, exclusive of tropical woods and manufactured 

 articles. In 1907, Germany imported about 6,000,000 

 tons of the same class of timber from Europe, and about 

 250,000 tons from North America. Belgium imports, on 

 an average of late years, about 1,500,000 loads, France 

 about 3,000,000 loads, each load probably being the equi- 

 valent of 2 tons of green wood in the round, or about 60 

 cubic feet (over bark quarter girth measure). 



Allowing for miscalculations and omissions, therefore, 

 the total imports of timber, exclusive of manufactured 

 articles, into the chief industrial countries of Europe, 

 amount to about 25,000,000 loads, or the annual average 

 produce of 50,000,000 acres of well-managed high forest 

 on good land. Of this quantity, probably four-fifths come 

 from other parts of Europe, leaving 5,000,000 loads as the 

 contribution of North America — a practically insignificant 

 quantity. 



