340 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



WOOD SHINGLES FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA 



LAST year fifty thousand homes and buildings in the 

 United States were roofed with cedar shingles which 

 came all the way from British Columbia. We now rely 

 on this well timbered Canadian province for one-seventh 

 of all the wood shingles used in this country. It is indeed 

 well for us that we have this outside source of supply, 

 for it is estimated that the combined red cedar resources 

 of our greatest shingle producing states, Washington and 

 Oregon, amount to less than forty billion feet, which, if it 

 were forced to fill all our shingle needs, would be entirely 

 exhausted in less than eight years. The use of other 

 woods, such as redwood, cypress, white cedar, pine 

 and hemlock serves to reduce this drain on the red 

 cedar supply, but unquestionably red cedar now stands 

 pre-eminent among all shingle woods. 



The Canadian Government has estimated that there is 

 over seventy billion feet of good shingle cedar in the 

 Province of British Columbia, nearly twice that remain- 

 ing in our northwestern states. Until reforestation can 

 begin to compensate for our own consumption we will 

 grow each year more dependent upon British Columbia 

 for shingles, or we must be prepared to pay much higher 

 prices than ever before. 



The proposal that shingles be made one of the articles 

 to receive a high tariff will, if adopted, place squarely 

 before everyone the present and immediate need of 

 taking steps to conserve our forests. It will be a bitter 

 pill to swallow, but one that should prove effective. 



FORESTS AND HUMAN PROGRESS 



TV7RITING under this title in the Geographical 

 " Review, Mr. Raphael Zon, of the United States 

 Forest Service, discusses in considerable detail the 

 effect of forests on the progress of civilization. 

 He recognizes three stages in the relation of man to 

 forest: (i) Civilization dominated by forests; (2) civi- 

 lization overcoming the forests, and (3) civilization 

 dominating forests. These three stages may exist 

 simultaneously in different parts of the earth. Thus 

 Central Africa and South America are still in the first 

 stage, a considerable part of North America and Asia 

 in the second, and Europe and parts of the United 

 States in the third. 



During the first stage forests constitute a serious ob- 

 stacle to human settlement. It is a striking fact that 

 practically all of the early civilizations originated in com- 

 paratively arid regions with little or no forest cover. In 

 the old world this is well illustrated by the Egyptians, 

 Babylonians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians, and in the new 

 world by the Aztecs and the Incas. Everywhere the 

 primeval forest has constituted one of the most formid- 

 able barriers to man's spread over the earth, Roman 

 colonization halted when it reached the virgin forests of 

 Central Europe, and these same forests later broke up 

 the successive westward sweeps of the nomadic hordes 

 of Huns, Magyars, and Avars. Penetration and clear- 

 ing of the forest were alike difficult, and habitation in it 

 in the early days of civilization was limited chiefly to 

 individuals or to weak and primitive tribes which fled to 

 it as a refuge. 



Gradually, however, civilization advanced to the point 

 where man was able to compete with the forest on even 

 terms. With the development of improved tools, the 

 more extensive use of fire, and the establishment of 

 more permanent settlements, he was no longer completely 

 dominated by the forest but began in turn to overcome 

 it. Large areas were cleared for agriculture, as in the 

 old "log rolling" days in Ohio and Indiana. Still larger 

 areas were exploited for firewood, building materials, 

 and other forest products. In Europe during the Middle 



Ages many industries dependent on wood for fuel, such 

 as metallurgy, glassmaking, and tanning, were located 

 in or near the forest. During this stage penetration of 

 the forests was facilitated first of all by rivers and small 

 streams and later by trails, roads, and railroads. 



Speaking generally, it may be said that up to a certain 

 point as civilization has progressed the forest area has 

 diminished. This process has in time led to the third 

 stage, where the tables are completely turned and the 

 forests are even more effectually dominated by man than 

 he was formerly dominated by them. So absolute has 

 been the conquest that in many parts of the world the 

 forest has been exterminated beyond any possible chance 

 of natural recovery. An extreme example of this is 

 presented by Great Britain, where nearly 95 per cent of 

 the original forest is now gone. Even in the United 

 States we have left only 463 million acres of forest land 

 out of the 822 million acres originally forested, and a 

 large part of this is wholly or partially unproductive. 



Yet this decrease in forest area has not been accom- 

 panied by a corresponding decrease in our requirements 

 for wood. While other materials such as steel, iron, 

 brick, and cement are partially taking the place of 

 wood for certain purposes, additional quantities are be- 

 ing needed for other purposes and new uses for it are 

 constantly being found. The annual consumption of 

 pulpwood in the United States, for example, has in- 

 creased in thirty years from 300,000 to 6,000,000 cords. 

 In Great Britain the per capita consumption of lumber 

 trebled in the sixty years from 1851 to 191 1. Experience 

 has shown that wood is one of the primary necessities 

 of life and that there is a point beyond which further 

 clearing of the forest is not only an economic waste but 

 a hindrance to the progress of civilization itself. 



Where this point has been passed a fourth stage in 

 the relation of man to forests might, perhaps, be recog- 

 nized and designated as "civilization restoring and im- 

 proving the forests." Western Europe, where nearly 

 all of the present forests are man-made, is already in this 

 stage. In some places cleared areas are being planted 



