THE CONSERVATION CONFERENCE. 



The United States now has 550,000,000 acres of forested 

 lands, or about one-fourth of the total land area of the continental 

 United States. The original forests covered not less than 

 850,000,000 acres. Publicly owned forests cover one-fourth of 

 the total and contain one-fifth of the timber standing ; privately 

 owned forests cover the remaining area and contain the re- 

 mainder of the timber standing. Scientific forestrv' is now 

 practiced on seventy per cent, of the pviblicly owned forests 

 and on less than one per cent, of the privately owned forests. 

 The total yearly growth of the forests of the United States is 

 less than seven billion cubic feet; there are taken from the 

 forests each year, including waste in logging and manufacture, 

 23,000,000,000 cubic feet, or more than three times the annual 

 production. The United States uses annually 100,000,000 cords 

 of firewood; 40,000,000,000 feet of lumber; more than 

 1,000,000,000 posts, poles and fence rails; 118,000,000 hewn 

 ties; 1,500,000,000 staves; 113,000,000 sets of headings; 

 500,000,000 barrel hoops; 3,000,000 cords of native pulpwood; 

 165,000,000 cubic feet of round mine timbers, and 1,250,000 

 cords of wood for distillation. Not less than 50,000,000 acres 

 of forest land are burned over annually, and since 1870 forest 

 fires have destroyed each year an average of fifty lives and 

 $50,000,000 worth of timber. One-fourth of the standing timber 

 is left or otherwise lost in logging; the boxing of long-leaf pine 

 for turpentine has destroyed one-fifth of the forests worked; 

 the loss in the mill is from one-third to two-thirds of the timber 

 sawed, and the loss in the mill product, from seasoning and 

 fitting for use, is from one-seventh to one-fourth. In other 

 words, only 320 feet of lumber is used for every 1,000 feet that 

 stood in the forests. The lumber cut has increased less than 

 fifteen per cent, in the last years, but the average price at the 

 mill, for all kinds of lumber, has risen forty-nine per cent., and 

 the rise continues. Misuse of the forests is invited by over- 

 taxation and in one year fire destroys timber enough to supply 

 the whole country for three months. To protect farms from 

 wind and to make stripped and treeless lands productive, there 

 hould be planted an area larger than that of the states of 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia combined; so far, lands 

 planted to trees make a total area smaller than that of Rhode 

 Island. By reasonable thrift the country can produce a constant 

 timber supply beyond the present needs and with it conserve 

 the usefulness of our streams for navigation, power, irrigation 

 and water supply. The conservation of public forests is the 

 smaller task before the nation and the states; the larger task 



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