1 903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



229 



tion. But, to be sure, according to the 

 Chief Geographer, ' ' timber growth in 

 the United States is certainly renewing 

 itself much faster than it is being con- 

 sumed." 



The certainty in this respect it would 

 be even more difficult to establish than 

 regarding the standing timber, but a 

 probability calculation is here also pos- 

 sible by borrowing some figures from 

 the experience of a country where tim- 

 ber production is a well-established busi- 

 ness and accurate statistics are available. 



In German state forest administra- 

 tions, comprising some 10 million acres 

 under good management, the produc- 

 tion of timberwood (over 3 inch) has 

 constantly increased in response to this 

 management, until now it may be stated 

 in the large average, with a rotation of 

 about 100 years, as 43 cubic feet per 

 acre per year, of which 50 per cent, or 

 round 22 cubic feet, are saw-log and 

 bolt size material. These figures must 

 be reduced by 15 to 25 per cent if pri- 

 vate and corporation forests are also 

 brought into consideration. 



Hence, if we were to assume that in 

 the unmanaged wild woods of the United 

 States a production of 40 cubic feet of 

 useful wood and 15 cubic feet fit to sup- 

 ply saw material takes place, we would 

 indeed be beyond reasonable expecta- 

 tion, especially since fire ravages thou- 

 sands of acres annually, and the young 

 growth at least is destroyed on them. 



Again ruling out the waste and brush 

 lands, which either by nature or by ill- 

 treatment have become incapable of pro- 

 ducing any valuable timber growth, the 

 area on which such growth might take 

 place may be set down as not to exceed 

 500 million acres. With such assump- 

 tion the new growth would represent 

 7.5 billion cubic feet of log material 

 about our present annual consumption. 



Any one who is at all familiar with 

 the condition of the timbered forest areas 

 of the United States will readily agree 

 that not one-half the assumed produc- 

 tion takes place over this vast area. In 

 the untouched woods the natural decay 

 offsets the accretion, while on the culled 

 area, both in the old and young growth, 

 the larger portion of the after-growth is 

 of weed trees not valuable timber. 



Another way of approximating the 

 possibilities not probabilities is to as- 

 sume the reported stumpage on the lum- 

 berman's holdings, namely, round 5,000 

 feet,B. M., per acre in the eastern United 

 States, as representing the average ca- 

 pacity over the who^e forest area. Na- 

 ture has taken hundreds of years to pro- 

 duce this; but, assuming the same stand 

 left to nature could be secured in 100 

 years, then the average accretion per 

 acre and year would be 50 feet, B. M. 

 This would not suffice to supply as much 

 as three-quarters of our present annual 

 requirements of lumber wood. And how 

 far are our premises below the proba- 

 bilities ? 



Not that under good forestry practice 

 even a better average could not be ob- 

 tained, for the 50 feet, B. M., represent 

 about 10 cubic feet, forest-grown mate- 

 rial, while the German practice produces 

 at least over 16 feet of saw material per 

 acre per annum. In exceptional cases 

 on selected small areas as much as 90 

 cubic feet of saw material has been at- 

 tained. 



But we have so far no forestry prac- 

 tice, no silviculture, no systematic re- 

 production. Not even protection of na- 

 ture's crop against the annually recur- 

 ring fires exists. And these fires, while 

 they may not destroy or even seriously 

 damage the old crop, as in many cases 

 and conditions they do not, they kill 

 with absolute certainty all the young 

 crop, and there is so far but little hope 

 that they will soon be stopped. What 

 incentive can there be for private inter- 

 est in spending money or foregoing im- 

 mediate revenue for a crop which is so 

 readily lost ? 



We may as well wake up to the reali- 

 zation that our efforts to secure a more 

 rational treatment of our forest resources 

 and apply forestry in their management 

 are not too early, but rather too late; 

 that they are by no means sufficient; 

 that serious trouble and inconvenience 

 .are in store for us in the not too distant 

 future; that the blind indifference and 

 the dallying or amateurish playing with 

 the problem by legislatures and officials 

 is fatal. 



We can, then, summarize the situa- 

 tion, which justifies the urgent need of 





