136 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



From the above table it will be seen that spruce, hem- 

 lock, fir and poplar are the only varieties of which appre- 

 ciable quantities are used. If white fir and cottonwood 

 are included, these varieties comprise nearly 85 per cent 

 of the wood used for pulp. So far as the yellow pines 

 and hardwoods are concerned, all of which are used in 

 small amounts, we may assume that the supply is ample 

 unless the demand for them is very much increased. 

 There are no accurate estimates of the stands of any of 

 the varieties of trees, but the opinions of many foresters 

 and other authorities have been collected and carefully 

 weighed. From the best information obtainable in this 

 way it is estimated that there are about 25,000,000 cords 

 of poplar in the strip of States from Maine to Minnesota, 

 inclusive. At the present rate of consumption, therefore, 

 there is no danger of a shortage of this species, since it 

 grows rapidly and is probably increasing faster than 

 it is being cut. 



The most serious problem is connected with our sup- 

 plies of newsprint woods spruce, hemlock and fir. The 

 consumption of these woods by regions is shown in 

 Table II: 



Table II. Native pulpwood consumption. Quantity of wood 

 consumed by kinds and States, 1918. 



1,886,864 



1,085,757 



255,077 



216,087 



In any consideration of the pulpwood supplies we must 

 remember that large quantities of these species are 

 required for lumber as well as for pulpwood. Table III 

 shows the amount of spruce, hemlock and fir used in 

 1917 for lumber: 



Table III. Amount of spruce, hemlock and fir lumber manu- 

 factured in 1917, by regions. 



Region. Feet B. M. 



New England States and New York 687,746,000 



Lake States .' 972,168,000 



Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and North 



Carolina 607,256,000 



Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California 1,001,233,000 



Total 3,268,403,000 



In order to add this amount to the amount used for 

 pulpwood it is necessary to convert the board feet to 

 cords. For this purpose it is assumed that 1,000 board 

 feet are equivalent to two cords. As stated above, there 

 are no accurate estimates of the amount of standing 

 timber, but Table IV gives the concensus of opinion of 

 the best experts with respect to these three species, 

 together with the total amount of these species used for 

 lumber and pulpwood, estimated and expressed in cords : 



Table IV. Approximate stand of spruce, hemlock and fir, total 

 annual consumption of these woods, and the number of years the 

 supply would last at the present rate of consumption. 



Approximate 

 Approxi- annual cut Approximate number of 

 mate of lumber years the present supply 

 stand, and wood, maybe expected to last at 

 Cords. Cords. present rate of cutting. 



Region 



New England 

 States and 

 New York. . . 



Lake States 



Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, 

 Virginia and 

 North Caro- 

 lina 



Alaska, Wash- 

 ington, Ore- 

 gon, Califor- 

 nia. Idaho, 

 Montana 



78,000,000 

 56,000,000 



3,262,000 

 3,030,000 



15,000,000 1,470,000 



540,000,000 2,218,000 



Total for 



United 



States 689,000,000 



Average 



9,980,000 



23 

 18 



10 



243 



69 



At first glance it might seem that a national supply for 

 69 years makes it unnecessary to worry over this ques- 

 tion for some time to come. When we realize, however, 

 that 95 per cent of the pulp and paper mills are located 

 in the East and that the present supplies of spruce, hem- 

 lock and fir in this part of the country cannot be expected 

 to last more than 25 years, the importance of the problem 

 is apparent. A pulp and paper mill is a very expensive 

 establishment, usually representing an investment of 

 several million dollars. It cannot be picked up and 

 moved to another section of the country. On the other 

 hand, wood cannot be economically shipped great dis- 

 tances. Even now some of the pulp mills are bringing 

 it more than 300 miles. During the past few years the 

 seriousness of this diminishing supply of wood available 

 for the use of the Eastern mills has been reflected in con- 

 stantly increasing importations of paper and pulp from 

 Canada. 



Up to 1909 the country was self-supporting in respect 

 to pulpwood, but since that date the consumption has 

 exceeded the home production. Production continued to 

 increase up to 1915, but since then has fallen off, and the 

 importations from Canada are now constantly increasing. 



Several ways of meeting this impending pulpwood 

 crisis suggest themselves. We may rely still further 

 upon Canadian resources, but this will mean the aban- 

 donment of many of our mills and the gradual shifting 

 of the paper industry to foreign soil. This might be a 

 source of serious embarrassment under certain condi- 

 tions, although friendly relations with Canada are not 

 likely to be disturbed. The Canadian Government has 

 wisely, from its standpoint, prohibited the exportation 

 of pulpwood from Crown lands, thus fostering the manu- 

 facture of paper in that country. Canada now has alto- 

 gether 90 pulp and paper mills, which produce a total 

 of about 2,100 tons of paper a day, and 89 per cent of 

 this quantity is available for export, a large part of it 

 going to the United States. In fact, of the paper, wood 

 and pulp used annually in the United States, about one- 



