THE WORLD'S FOREST SUPPLY 19 



Venezuela, British, French, and Dutch Guiana, on the north, 

 are covered with excellent timber ; so are millions of acres 

 in Brazil, especially in Bahia, Minas Geraes, and the 

 basin of the Amazon. The great forest of Matto Grosso, 

 probably the largest in the world, may cover over 

 500,000,000 acres, whilst the northern portions of 

 Argentina and a large part of Paraguay are covered with 

 extensive tracts of timber. 



As regards China, although little or no timber is found 

 along the Gulf of Pechili, stone mile-posts having had to 

 be put down on the railways because the natives stole the 

 wooden ones for fuel, other portions of the country are 

 well wooded, especially the central provinces, where 

 magnificent pine timber is to be found. 



We may at a reasonable estimate, and from fairly 

 reliable sources, place the forest land of the world at the 

 present time at over 2,200,000,000 acres, an area nearly as 

 large as Europe, about one-sixteenth of the land area of 

 the globe, and sufficient to provide more than an acre and 

 a half of woodland for every inhabitant. These look 

 enormous resources, and at first glance would appear to be 

 equal to any reasonable call upon them, but when we 

 consider the constant and increasing consumption, when 

 we realise that vast areas of forest in the United States, 

 Canada, Norway, Sweden, and even New Zealand and 

 Tasmania, which thirty years ago produced great quantities 

 of timber, are now worked out, our opinion becomes 

 modified. Large areas of country where forest once stood 

 are required for tillage as the population increases, and 

 this particularly affects countries such as the United 

 States and Canada, where there is a large immigrant 

 population, and millions of acres of woodland which have 

 been cut down will never be replaced. Yellow pine 

 (P. strobus), which thirty years ago was the chief timber 



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