190] 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



43 



The forest resources of Canada are im- 

 mense, the forest area is estimated as more 

 than Soo million acres or 38 per cent, of 

 the total area. The export of timber 

 from Canada in 1898 was approximately 

 determined as 162,380,000 cubic feet and 

 its value as $27,600,000; to this must be 

 added the export of pulp worth $1,200,- 

 000. 



The amount of timber supplied to the 

 world market by Austria-Hungary, Russia, 

 Sweden, Norway, the United States, and 

 Canada approaches the figures given for 

 the demand of timber, namely about 1.23 

 to 1. 41 billion cubic feet. From this we 

 may conclude that at present the supply of 

 wood on the world market covers the de- 

 mand. The question is, how long will the 

 exporting countries be able to furnish this 

 amount of timber? The price of timber is 

 constantly rising; but in forestry this ad- 

 vance in value in contradistinction to other 

 industries, does not lead to the increase of 

 production, but, on the contrary, to more 

 rapid destruction. The forests already in 

 existence become depleted, the old stands 

 are replaced by young ones, and often the 

 cut areas are abandoned altogether. Tak- 

 ing in consideration the gradual decrease 

 of the forests and the growth of population. 

 M. Melard comes to the conclusion that 

 the equilibrium between the demand and 

 supply of timber in the world market, 

 supported at present mainly by Russia and 

 Canada, will not last more than 50 years 

 after which there will come scarcity, and 

 as a consequence high prices. 



M. Melard briefly discusses also the posi- 

 bilities of timber supply from the tropical 

 countries ; he considers that there is little 

 to be expected from the virgin tropical 

 forests of Africa and South America. 

 While these forests are rich in woody 

 species comparatively few can be substi- 

 tuted for the wood of our conifers, so ex- 

 tensively used for many purposes. Besides, 

 the rapidity with which everything decays 

 in the tropics and the soft, never freezing 

 soil make immense difficulties in transpor- 

 tation. 



M. Melard emphasizes the necessity of 

 taking measures at once in order to avoid 

 a timber famine in the future, because the 



maturing of a forest harvest requires many 

 decades. His proposed remedy is to re- 

 forest many million acres of land unfit at 

 present for agricultural purposes to pre- 

 serve the forests already in existence, to 

 relieve forests of heavy taxes, and to 

 lengthen the rotation in order to produce 

 timber of large sizes. 



It is interesting to note that not M. Mel- 

 ard alone is concerned about the future 

 timber supply. Here and there in the 

 periodicals one meets with articles devoted 

 to the question as to how much the present 

 exploitation of the forests of a particular 

 country corresponds to their normal pro- 

 ductivity, and the most interesting fact is 

 that the conclusions to which the authors 

 of these articles come independently, seem- 

 ingly confirms the opinion expressed by 

 M. Melard as to the world's supply of 

 wood. Thus, not long ago Prof. II. 

 Mayer, in the Allgemeine Forst undjagd 

 ZeiUtng (1890, Nos. 3, 4, and 5), figured 

 out the forest resources of Russia, and states 

 as his opinion that Russia can furnish tim- 

 ber of large size only for fifty years, at 

 cheap prices. Hem*y Gannet, Chief Geog- 

 rapher of the United States Geological 

 Survey, in an article entitled " Is a Tim- 

 ber Famine Imminent?" in the Forum for 

 October, 1900, makes a similar study of 

 the forests of the United States. Mr. Gan- 

 net estimates the amount of standing tim- 

 ber of merchantable size and quality in the 

 country west of the Plains as 630 billion 

 feet (B. M.). Of this 30 billion are to be 

 found in the Rocky Mountain Region and 

 600 billion feet in the Pacific Coast States. 

 These calculations are more or less accu- 

 rate as they are based on the results of the 

 examinations which have been carried out 

 with considerable care during the past 

 three years, both within and without the 

 forest "reserves, for the purpose of aiding 

 in the administration of the reserves with 

 reference to the establishment of new re- 

 serves, and to gain information about the 

 local supply of lumber in various parts ol 

 the West. " The information concerning 

 the eastern part of the country is scanty, 

 all estimates, therefore, must necessarily 

 be mostly guess work. Mr. Gannet thinks 

 that the" average stand upon the wooded 



