40 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



imported wood. Again, the exported wood manu- 

 factures bring her at the rate of $4.20 per cubic 

 foot, while she pays only $2.40 for the imported 

 ware. We, on the other hand, export twice as 

 much as we import, and that mostly raw materials, 

 namely, twice as much in value of raw materials as 

 of manufactures, and by so much decimating our 

 resources, which we exploit beyond their power of 

 reproduction. 



The temperate zones are the favored ones in 

 that they abound not only in a variety of woods 

 which are most readily turned to use in all the 

 various directions in which wood is required in our 

 civilization, but the most useful ones occur more or 

 less gregariously, so that their exploitation can be 

 most readily and cheaply accomplished. This is 

 especially the case with the conifers, spruces, firs, 

 redwoods, and above all, the pines, which cover 

 large areas exclusively or nearly so, and excel in 

 the combination of desirable qualities all other ma- 

 terials, so that without them our civilization would 

 be badly crippled. Of the enormous yearly lum- 

 ber consumption in the United States, amounting 

 nearly to 40,000,000,000 feet of board measure 

 (enough to make a plank walk 300 feet wide around 

 the world, or floor over entirely the states of Dela- 

 ware and Rhode Island), the conifers furnish more 

 than | and the pines alone ^ ; and again the white 

 pine of the lake states furnishes f of this half, giv- 

 ing to these supplies of one species an economic 



