FOREST CONDITIONS. 355 



dustry, it is probably safe to reduce this stand by at 

 least 70,000 million, so that at best, less than the 

 lower estimate is remaining to satisfy a demand 

 of now over 10,000 million feet annually. 



We must again and again accentuate that these 

 figurings are neither mathematics nor statistics in 

 the sense of the enumerator, but are calculations 

 of possibilities or probabilities sufficiently close to 

 give an insight into the general situation. By 

 changing standards, by cutting more closely, by 

 avoiding waste in logging and sawing, by avoiding 

 extravagance in the use of the materials, we may 

 lengthen the time during which these stores may 

 last, but unless they are replaced by reproduction, 

 they must give out within much less time than it 

 takes to grow a log tree, for the timber which we 

 now cut is mostly 1 50 to 300 years and more old, 

 and none of these pines make suitable sawlogs in 

 less than 60 to 120 years. 



What under prevailing practices the chance for 

 spontaneous natural reproduction and the condition 

 of the cut-over areas are, may be learned from read- 

 ing the excellent monograph on "The Southern 

 Pines," by Dr. Charles Mohr. 1 The practice of 

 annual firing of the woods, to improve the grazing, 

 has in most places effectually prevented renewal 

 of the pines. 



One of the forest industries using a by-product, 



^'The Timber Pines of the Southern United States," Bulletin 

 No. 13, Division of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1896. 



