USE AND ABUSE OF FORESTS 



351 



In the United States we are already coming to deplore the lack 

 of many valuable woods which can now be secured only in limited 

 quantities. White pine, (Fig. 240) which is the most valuable 

 for building purposes of all our native woods, formerly occupied 

 the great belt along the northern tier of states as far west as Min- 

 nesota. This species is now so nearly exhausted that substitution 

 of very inferior grades of wood is necessary. Hemlock and spruce 

 (Figs. 241, 242, 243 and 244) help fill this gap, and the yellow 

 pines of the South are more in demand. Many of the hard 

 woods which were formerly used 

 in the manufacture of imple- 

 ments of many kinds are so 

 nearly gone that they are 

 replaced by iron. This change 

 is so marked as to cause the 

 present time to be spoken of 

 as the "iron age." 



Timber for telegraph and 

 telephone poles is becoming so 

 scarce that already companies 

 are beginning to use steel and 

 concrete poles. Fence posts are 

 sometimes made of concrete or 

 steel as a substitute for wood. 

 Railroad companies are using 

 preservatives to lengthen the 

 life of railroad ties, and substi- 

 tutes for wood are being tried. 

 Building materials of other 

 kinds are being used more and 

 more for exterior structures, 



Vionoiieo f\f fVio rarnrllv innrviaQ nurseries from seed." The tree is readily dis- 



because oi tne rapidly increas- tinguished by its 8ix inch cones and its pendu . 

 ing price of lumber. 



Use and Abuse of Forests. The most notable new 

 use for wood is the manufacture of paper. Several species of wood 

 are extensively used in the manufacture of wood pulp to be made 

 into several products, chiefly paper (Fig. 245). So rapid has been 

 the cutting for this purpose that trees are cut when very small. 

 As the supply becomes less, smaller trees are used, so that trees 

 too small for use as lumber are used by pulp mills. When the forest 

 is cut so close as to use small saplings, reforestation by natural 



for 



FIG. 244. Norway spruce is used more 

 ornamental planting than any other 



pruce, for which purpose it is grown in 

 Thf 



