34 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



^A'hen the modern lumberman builds his mills and railroads he estimates 

 the probable life of his plant by the amount of timber he has. Any loss of 

 timber follows tbrou^'h every step of his operations. In many cases the added 

 expense of jiroducing logs from burned timber is more than the actual loss 

 of stumpage. 



AN'hcn forest fires are extensive there is an over-production of lumber 

 because of the cutting of burned timber to save it. Over-production always 

 means low prices. 



There is one loss in timber that is greatly exaggerated by forest fires. 

 The decay following fires causes a large increase of the insect enemies of 

 ''rowing timber. In the northern peninsula of Michigan bark beetles and 

 borers attacked the burned hemlock and pine immediately after the great fires 



of last July. 



In the future we may look for a more rapid decay of every imperfect tree 

 "rowing near the burned districts. Great numbers of trees not burned will 

 die from the attacks of insects as the indirect result of the fires. For many 

 years the owners of mixed hardwood and hemlock timber lands thought them- 

 selves almost immune from fire loss. The leaf fires of October and November^ 

 1908, were new to many owners. That year and the next it was thought little 

 damage had been done. The contrary is now known to be true. A consider- 

 able part of the burned districts are dead or dying. This last summer we saw 

 large areas of mixed timber, con raining very little pine, burned so badly that 

 the trees were all killed immediately. Hardwood trees burned like conifers. 



We have figured in the past on getting the bark from the burned hemlock 

 trees. This year they were burned so badly that the bark already is decayed 

 and has been fairly riddled by woodpeckers and sapsuckers in search of the 

 swarms of bark beetles that have infested the trees. Where the timber was 

 burned last summer very little bark will be gathered next season. 



A brief description oi" how a lumberman makes money from our forests 

 may not be without interest. 



Assume that he has paid $15,000 for a j.'roup of timber and upon cutting 

 it and after paying all the bills and sellinj, his lumber he has |17,000. In 

 other words, he has made two thousand dollars. Then he finds he needs more 

 timber. He tries to replace the acreage he has cut and is compelled to pay 

 $17,000 for it, just what he took out of the first tract. This performance is 

 repeated year after year in the hope that future manufacturing profits may be 

 larger. He rarely makes a dollar sawing lumber and often loses. If he man- 

 ages to wind up his operation with about as much timber as he started with, 

 he makes money because of the natural increase in timber values. If some of 

 the timber land left has been burned over, the operation likely will show a 

 loss and not a gain. The lumber business is largely one of book profits today. 

 Cash dividends do not come with regularity. 



Tliese are some of the reasons why the lumbermen are interested in laws 

 for the protection of forests, but I do not mean to imply that they alone are 

 interested. The entire country is aroused to the necessity for action. It has 

 been difficult in the past to convince the residents of the unforested parts of 

 the lake states that they have a common interest with the lumbermen in the 

 protection of the forests. They are beginning to understand that the lumber- 

 men are less interested in protecting the remaining forests than they are. The 

 owners have an average value in their stumpage of about $2.50 a thousand and 

 they disburse, in the jtrocess of reducing the tree to a marketable product, 

 about four times that amount. 



The public, realizing at last that the wanton destruction of the forests 

 means a distinct loss to everyone, demands that something be done; and some- 

 thing will be done. Such vast resources have been destroyed by fire in recent 



