to relatively limited areas which are producing tim- 

 ber at or near their full capacity. On 81 million 

 acres there is practically no forest growth. This is 

 the result of forest fires and of methods of cutting 

 which destroy or prevent new timber growth. There 

 were 27.000 recorded forest fires in 1919, burning 

 a total of 8 1-4 million acres. During the preceding 

 year, 25,000 fires burned over 10Vi> million acres 

 of forest land. An additional large acreage was 

 burned each year, of which no record could be 

 obtained. 



The area of idle or largely idle land is being in- 

 creased by from 3 to 4 million acres annually as the 

 cutting and burning of forests continue. The enor- 

 mous area of forest land in the United States not re- 

 quired for any other economic use, estimated at 463 

 million acres, would provide an ample supply of wood 

 if it was kept productive. Depletion has resulted, not 

 from using our timber resources but from failure to 

 use our timber-growing land. 



Nor does this situation exist simply in the less 

 developed and thinly settled regions of the country. 

 The State of Massachusetts, as a typical example, con- 

 tains denuded forest lands within a stone's throw of 

 her dense population and highly developed industries, 

 which have been estimated at 1,000,000 acres and 

 which are largely idle as far as growing wood of 

 economic value is concerned. 



.Minnesota has millions of acres of idle cut-over 

 lands and is already spending $4,000,000 a year for 

 importing lumber. Does that pay? 



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