8 Studies in Forestry [CHAP. i. 



viz. the steady appreciation of forest produce during the past '. 

 And this is bound to become accentuated in the future ; for 

 whilst population and the demands for timber, &c., are con- 

 stantly increasing, the woodland area, and consequently the 

 possibility of satisfying these demands, are constantly decreas- 

 ing over the whole surface of the globe. 



On this point Professor Weber remarks 2 , in speaking of the 

 increasing demands for forest produce, and the ever-growing 

 utilization of timber as a raw product for various mechanical 

 and chemical industries, that : 



'A proof of the strength of those influences is yielded in 

 the fact, shown by the statistics of prices for the different 

 dimensions of wood, that the mean annual increase in the price 

 of timber during the last fifty years has been from 2 to z\ % 

 throughout Germany.' 



This consideration is one that should most certainly not be 

 lost sight of when we are face to face with the fact 3 that in 

 fifty years' time the forests of America will have become 

 exhausted, even if the rate of timber extraction does not 

 increase at all beyond its present dimensions. The natural 

 consequences of this must not only be that America will, long 

 before the close of that period, not have any surplus timber to 

 export for the supply of our requirements, but also that she 

 must be a competitor with us for any surplus timber that may 

 then be available, in any other part of the world, for export 

 beyond the limits of the countries where it is grown. 



It is not contended that any considerable portion of the 

 1,365,075 paid away in 1892 for wood-pulp and rosin could 

 have been retained in exchange for the produce of our own 

 coniferous woods ; for the manufacture of cellulose, and the 

 collection of rosin, are usually conducted in localities where 



1 See G. Heyer, Anleitung zur Waldwerthrechnung, 3rd edit. 1883, 

 p. 9. 



2 Lehrbuch der Forsteinrichtung, 1891, p. 37. 



3 See Article on American Forests in thefottrnal of the Society of Arts 

 for February, 1893. 



