442 



CONSERVATION 



character resembling somewhat those of the 

 United States and Canada. 



The tropical forests are totally different 

 from our north woods. There are no solid 

 stands of single species or even of a few 

 mixed species. Instead, hundreds of kinds 

 of trees grow thoroughly mixed and scat- 

 tered through the whole forest. This is one 

 of several reasons that make logging in 

 tropical forests so expensive and often un- 

 profitable. 



Rubber hunters have explored nearly the 

 whole tropical forest in search of that neces- 

 sary article of commerce, but aside from that 

 South American forests have only been cut 

 into for a few miles back from the coast and 

 the principal ports and rivers. Even in this 

 area only the species at present most val- 

 uable for commerce have been thus far cut, 

 for example, cedar, mahogany, rosewood, 

 lignum-vitae, fustic, and ironwood. Rail- 

 roads, where they exist, charge such exor- 

 bitant freight rates that they have not much 

 encouraged exploitation of the forests. In 

 addition to this, the sparsity of population 

 and lack of labor have also retarded develop- 

 ment of the forests. 



Most of the woods growing in these tropi- 

 cal forests are very heavy, hard, and rich in 

 color. Greenheart is so hard that it nicks 

 the axes of the choppers and will last for 

 over 100 years in water. 



Growth is so luxuriant and rapid that 

 ruins or abandoned farms are promptly cov- 

 ered with a dense young growth of trees and 

 vines that in a few years obscures the marks 

 of civilization. The great forest of the 

 Amazon basin is 1,100 miles long east and 

 west by 750 miles north and south. It cov- 

 ers nearly a million square miles in Brazil. 

 But as it lacks construction timbers it can- 

 not be looked to for relief from the approach- 

 ing scarcity in that kind of wood. 



This Amazon forest presents the usual 

 features of tropical growths, a tangle of vines 

 weaving the great trees together and ob- 

 scuring the sky. and leaves hanging from the 

 branches like ropes, while underneath is a 

 snarl of shrubs and creeping plants in which 

 are hidden many species of fibrous plants 

 and cacti with their sharp stings and thorns. 



The tropical American woods are pecu- 

 liarly adapted to withstand the ravages of 

 insects and climate. In Paraguay, timbers 

 of lapacho and quebracho which were used 

 by the Jesuits in constructing their missions, 

 are still well preserved in the ruins. In con- 

 trast to this, our own North American woods, 

 which are so extensively imported for con- 

 struction in South America, rapidly decay 

 and are eaten by insects. 



Just as in this country, not only in the old 

 days but even to-day on the frontier, so also 

 in South America in Colombia. Chile, and 

 other states, the forests are cut down and 

 burned, to clear land for agriculture. 



The transportation difficulties in the moun- 



tainous countries are so great that the cities 

 of the west coast depend wholly upon im- 

 ports, chiefly from the United States, for their 

 lumber. Their own mountain forests, which 

 are reported to be very extensive and val- 

 uable, are inaccessible. 



In Colombia at least the Australian eu- 

 calyptus has proven a vigorous grower, just 

 as it has done in California. The American 

 consul at Bogota reports that this tree 

 reaches merchantable size in twenty to 

 twenty-five years without cultivation. 



Oveivcutting of Connecticut's Forests 



It has been estimated that the amount of 

 wood annually consumed in the United 

 'States at the present time is 23,000,000,000 

 cubic feet, while the growth of the 

 forest is only 7,000,000,000 feet. In other 

 words, Americans all over the country are 

 using more than three times as much wood 

 as the forests are producing. The figures 

 are based upon a large number of state and 

 local reports collected by the Government 

 and upon actual measurements. 



The state forester of Connecticut, in a re- 

 cent report, has given figures on growth and 

 use for New Haven County, which give 

 many more valuable details than are gener- 

 ally to be obtained, and well illustrate 

 how the forest is being reduced by over- 

 cutting. In this county a very careful study 

 was made on each township of the amount 

 of forest, the rate of growth, and the amount 

 of timber used. For the year 1907 the tim- 

 ber used was 120,000 cords, in the form of 

 cordwood, lumber, ties, poles, and piles. 

 The annual growth on all types of forest 

 land, including the trees standing on aban- 

 doned fields, for the year, reached a total 

 of 70,000 cords. Thus the amount cut yearly 

 exceeds the growth by 50,000 cords. 



The amount of standing timber consid- 

 ered as merchantable and available for cut- 

 ting within the next few years was found to 

 be 1,200,000 cords. Each year the annual 

 growth increases the supply on hand by 

 70,000 cords, while the use decreases it by 

 120,000. The net reduction is, therefore, 

 50,000 cords a year. If the cut and the 

 growth remain at the present figures, the 

 supply of merchantable timber will be ex- 

 hausted in about twenty years. At the end 

 of that time there will be a large amount of 

 forest standing in the county, but it will be 

 in tracts under forty years of age, contain- 

 ing wood below the most profitable size 

 for cutting. Cordwood could still be cut, 

 but supplies of the most profitable products, 

 like ties and lumber, would be practically 

 exhausted. 



Connecticut's case illustrates what is 

 meant when the exhaustion of the timber 

 supply is spoken of. It does not mean that 



