12 Q AMERICAN FORESTRY 



investigations now going on, is somewhat speculative, but it is not at all 

 improbable that it can be; but under present conditions and those reasonably 

 assured, the only question at all worthy of serious attention is whether we 

 can continue to' obtain 900,000 to 1,000,000 cords of spruce pulp-wood per 

 annum at a price which will not unduly enhance the price of news print paper, 

 or, in other words, the raw material for only about 24 per cent of the total 

 tonnage of paper made. 



PLENTY OP SPRUCE IN THE UNITED STATES 



Granting that we need 1,000,000 cords per annum of spruce pulp-wood, let 

 us consider the sources from which it can be obtained. We are now using 

 annually 1,650,000 cords of spruce cut in the United States, but it has been 

 shown that through the availability of other woods, 650,000 cords of this is 

 not absolutely required for the purposes for which it has been used. The 

 same may be said of the 800,000 cords of spruce imported from Canada. 

 The wide natural distribution of spruce in the United States is indicated 

 by the statement in the Government's report on "Forest Products of the 

 United States" for 1909 that spruce lumber, lath and shingles were produced 

 in thirty-two states, the principal ones being in order Maine, New Hampshire, 

 West Virginia, Washington, New York, Vermont, Virginia, Minnesota, and 

 Oregon. Thus it appears that the North-east, Central-north and North-west 

 groups of States are all represented. Spruce is found along the whole Appa- 

 lachian range as far south as North Carolina. Conservation of this species 

 over this whole area would insure an adequate supply for all time to come. 

 Ten million acres averaging a stand of growing timber of 5 cords to the acre 

 or a total stand of 50,000,000 cords with an annual growth of 2 per cent 

 would yield 1,000,00 cords a year perpetually. There is today at least that 

 area, that stand, that growth and yield in the State of Maine alone. 



COST OP SPRUCE LUMBER AND PULP-WOOD NOT EXCESSIVE 



By themselves the pulp mills would be no drain upon the reproductive 

 capacity of the spruce forests, but consumption for lumber must be reckoned 

 with. Of the total cut in 1909 of spruce for all purposes, about 32 per cent 

 was pulp-wood. There is thus a competition between the saw mills and pulp 

 mills, although at least 25 per cent of the wood used for pulp is not suitable 

 for saw-logs, being tops and crooked and defective logs which would otherwise 

 be wasted. Notwithstanding this double demand for spruce, although spruce 

 lumber has advanced in price 50 per cent in the last ten years, this is not 

 much in excess of the average advance in the price of all kinds of lumber, 

 viz., 38.2 per cent, and it is exceeded by many common species, e. g., yellow 

 poplar, 81 per cent ; hickory, 64* per cent ; ash, 51 per cent ; cypress, 53.6 

 per cent; cedar, 82.9 per cent; cotton-wood, 74 per cent; western pine, 58.7 

 per cent. There is plainly nothing unusual in the increase in the cost of 

 spruce with respect to lumber generally, or for that matter almost every other 

 commodity. Most varieties of lumber compete with each other for many 

 purposes and this tendency to substitute one kind of lumber for another is 



