Vol. XIV 



JULY, 1908 



Xo. 7 



THE WORK OF THE SPOILERS 



How the Finest Hardwood Forests on the Continent, in Western Ohio, 



Have Been Ravished The Result 



By A. B. PLOWMAN, Department of Botany, Beaver College 



IT IS tlu- writer's purpose to record 

 briefly in this paper some of the 

 facts gathered in a study of the 

 forestry conditions in '\Yestern Ohio in 

 the summer of 1907. 



Here, as everywhere in the I'nited 

 States probably the mo-t striking fact 

 in connection with the whole problem 

 of timber-supply is the unprecedented 

 advance in the price- of lumber during 

 the last few years. The graph chart. 

 Fig. I. based upon quotation- supplied 

 by one of the largest retail lumber 

 dealer- in Western < )hio. \\-ill -erve to 

 -how. better than figure- or any mere 

 statement in words the nature of thi- 

 advance in price-* since i S< jo. The om- 

 spicuou- feature of thi- chart i- the ex- 

 cr--ivc steepnc-s of the graph- for the 

 la-t period represented. I' (05-11)07. Thi- 

 is especially noticeable in the ca-e of 

 plastering lath and cedar shingles. We 

 observe that in the seventeen year- cov- 

 ered by the chart, the price of lath ha- 

 advanced one hundred forty per cent.. 



while the price of shingles has in- 

 creased ninety per cent. I Jut even more 

 significant is the fact that, of the one 

 hundred forty per cent, advance, -ixty 

 per cent., or three-seventh-, ha- oc- 

 curred in the last two year- : and of the 

 ninety per cent, advance on shingle-, 

 -event v-four per cent., or nearlv fivc- 

 sixth-. is included in the same t\\o 

 \ ears. 



< if course the-e prices are but little. 

 if at all. dependent upon local fore-try 

 condition-, but they constitute a highly 

 imjxirtant element in the local problem 

 of timber supply. And. in pa--:ng. it 

 may be remarked that in the region un- 

 der consideration, there i- a rather gen- 

 eral belief that the prc-ent hi-h tide in 

 timber price- i- a- largely due to tariff, 

 freight rate-, and cor|*>ration control 

 as to any actual or threatened failure in 

 the natural -upply. either here or el-c- 

 whcrr Coi ' t i" un- - ""}". 



The territory included in thi- study 

 is limited to the we-tern tier -f 



363 



