214 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A FINE STAND OF SECOND GROWTH SPRUCE 

 We face the stark necessity of rehabilitating our "paper woods 

 because of the terrific drain made upon them by the public (U 

 mand for paper and then more paper. 



mable after a few years on the roof, though 

 it was originally fireproof. An asbestos 

 roof must remain fireproof. I have seen 

 very unsatisfactory results from prepared 

 roofings. We believe that they are not 

 comparable to shingles. Since they are 

 mostly made of wood pulp, their efTect on 

 the timber supply cannot be great. 



The citizens of Canada and the United 

 States are more extravagant with paper 

 than any other people of the earth. Wood 

 for paper pulp is getting scarce. We are im- 

 porting one-third of our pulp supply from 

 Canada, and, although Canada has great 

 supplies of timber, there have been terrible 

 fire ravages in the Dominion and very re- 

 cently the spruce bud-moth has injured 

 thousands of square miles of Canada's pulp 

 forests. We are not yet facing a lumber 

 famine, but a paper famine is right before 

 us, although conditions indicate that it will 

 be averted. 



News-print paper is the great scarcity 

 and the great waste. American news- 

 ])apers are from three to ten times the size 

 of luiropean jjapers, yet the Old Country 

 people seem to get the news. Most papers 

 could be reduced one-half, and there would 



still be as much news and advertising as one could read. 

 That would be a simple method of doubling the supply 

 of news-print. Only public sentiment would not stand 

 for it. But necessity will force it in time. Many a 

 thoughtful citizen would hesitate to ruthlessly cut a 

 fine spruce, but he buys many such trees in the form of 

 rather worthless Sunday supplements, and throws them, 

 half read, into the ash barrel. 



We waste paper in numerous other ways. Wrapping 

 more paper around food in a tin can with a paper label 

 is an example. We hope it will never be necessary for 

 us to emulate the French and carry a loaf of bread home, 

 exposed to street germs, with no covering whatever, 

 but we are headed for that condition by 1950 if our popu- 

 lation continues to increase and we continue our ex- 

 travagance. Books and magazines use much paper and 

 many modern publications are of questionable worth. But 

 the public demands this reading and will continue to get 

 it until the poorer publications are forced out by the 

 high prices that come with acute scarcity. 



There are many hopeful signs. Things are not as bad 

 as some of the calamity howlers would make us be- 

 lieve. Alaska is now known to have a large supply of 

 pulpwood . The use of certain inferior broad leaf species, 

 as the poplars, and the reforestation of spruce are sub- 

 jects on which foresters, engineers and paper manu- 

 facturers are diligently working. But whether or not 

 public demand will denude the pulp forests before the 



A STAND OF PURE HEMLOCK IN NEW YORK 



This highly valuable commercial wood goes into the making of boardwalks 

 and other uses where hardness and strength, durability and accessibility are 

 important factors. 



