94 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



conditions of great potency a variety of serviceable 

 and strongly reproducing trees, a long growing season, 

 and soils that 

 are fresh and 

 u n i m p a ired. 

 Great con- 

 trasts are 

 found, how- 

 ever, and these 

 contrasts are 

 not seldom ex- 

 hibited within 

 small spaces. 

 Soil conditions 

 are all-import- 

 ant. Texture, 

 relation to clay 

 or hard pan, 

 depth of the 

 water table, 

 content of lime 

 these things, 

 in their differ- 

 ent degrees and combinations, affect vegetation to a mar- 

 velous degree. They mark off different types by sharp 

 lines ; they decrease or increase vastly the rate of wood 



TWENTY THOUSAND FEET PER ACRE OF LONGLEAF PINE TIMBER DESTROYED BY 

 TURPENTINING AND THE FOLLOWING FIRES. 



production. This condition, for the man contemplat- 

 ing enterprise, in timber or another line, constitutes 



both challenge 

 and opportuni- 

 ty. Of this 

 dive rsity, no 

 part of the 

 South is more 

 illustrative than 

 Florida. The 

 rich and the 

 poor lands fre- 

 quently lie side 

 by side, with 

 enormous dif- 

 ferences in 

 prod uctivity. 

 Some of these 

 differences, to- 

 gether with a 

 partial under- 

 standing of 

 phenomena in a broad way (no tropical features are, 

 however, included) may be gathered from the photo- 

 graphs. 



PAPER FAMINE IF FORESTS ARE WASTED 



IN less than 20 years 95 per cent of the pulp and paper 

 mills of the country, mainly those in the East, will 

 have practically exhausted their supplies of spruce, 

 hemlock and fir the principal woods from which the 

 paper on which newspapers are printed is made. 



. The annual cutting of these woods in the New Eng- 

 land States and New York is approximately 3,262,000 

 cords, and at this rate the supply will last approximately 

 17 years. The estimated annual cutting in the Lake 

 States is 3,030,000 cords, and if continued will exhaust 

 the supply in that region within 18 years. Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, with their 

 smaller forest resources, are even worse off, the annual 

 cutting being calculated at 1,470,000 cords, at which rate 

 the spruce, hemlock and fir will last but ten years. Only 

 in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California are the 

 reserves in no immediate danger of exhaustion if the 

 cutting continues at the present rate of 2,218,000 cords 

 a year. 



These figures, of special interest because of the present 

 paper shortage, are included in estimates compiled by 

 the Forest Service of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. The data accumulated gives additional 

 emphasis to the demand for a nation-wide policy that 

 will put privately owned forests on a permanently pro- 

 ductive basis and will also result in utilizing mill waste 

 for paper making. 



Even if the country's hemlock, spruce and fir resources, 

 including the vast forests of far-off Alaska, are lumped 

 together, the supply of these woods will be sufficient to 

 meet the lumber and paper demands for less than three- 

 fourths of a century, assuming that the present rate of 

 cutting continues. At first glance it might seem that a 

 national supply for three-fourths of a century makes it 

 unnecessary to worry over the lumber question for some 

 time. But, as already stated, 95 per cent of the pulp and 

 paper mills are located in the East; these are very ex- 

 pensive establishments, often costing millions of dollars, 

 and can not be moved conveniently to new locations, nor 

 can wood be shipped to them economically from great 

 distances. Consequently talk of easily utilizing the far- 

 off reserves is impracticable unless the present mills are 

 to be scrapped and new ones built nearer the source of 

 supply. 



Up to ten years ago the United States was self-support- 

 ing with regard to newsprint, but within the last decade 

 the consumption has exceeded home production and 

 promises to do so increasingly. In view of this situation 

 two alternatives present themselves, according to Forest 

 Service experts and representatives of large wood-using 

 industries. The country must depend increasingly upon 

 Canada, eventually abandoning many of its own mills, or 

 the nation's policy with regard to its private forests must 

 be radically changed. Canada now has 90 paper and 



