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CHAPTER L 



DIRECT UTILITY OF FORESTS. 



The important direct effects of forests are due to the produce 

 which they yield, the capital which they represent and the 

 work which they provide. 



1. Tlie Produce of Forests, 

 a. Principal Produce or Wood. 



Wood is used as timber in construction, shipbuilding, 

 machinery, industries, agriculture, for tools, furniture, etc., 

 and as fuel for domestic and industrial firing. The quantity 

 of wood required in a country depends on various considera- 

 tions which will be dealt with further on. In modern times, 

 iron and other materials have to a considerable extent 

 replaced timber, while coal, lignite and peat compete with 

 firewood ; nevertheless, wood is still indispensable and likely 

 to remain so. The more general introduction of substitutes for 

 firewood has, however, drawn increased attention to the pro- 

 duction of timber in preference to firewood. For instance, of 

 the total produce of the Saxon State forests only 35 per cent, 

 was classified as timber in 1850, but the proportion had risen 

 to 82 per cent, in 1900. Similarly, in Bavaria it rose from 

 16 per cent, in 1850 to 50 per cent, in 1900.* At the same 

 time, new industries which consume wood have sprung up, 

 such as the preparation of wood pulp for the manufacture of 

 paper. It is estimated that the manufacture of the wood pulp 

 imported into the United Kingdom consumes about 50,000,000 

 cubic feet of timber annually, the value of the imported pulp 



* R. Webor in Lorev's " Handbucli der Forstwissenschaft, 1903." 



