1882 



Canadian Forestrij Journal, September, 1918 



Golden Returns from Forest Maintenance 



Bij D. E. Hutchins, in ''The Forests of New Zealand.'' 



I estimate the European and South- 

 ern Hemisphere timber markets open 

 to New Zealand as worth now £14,- 

 000,000 yearly; and these markets 

 are more likely to improve than fall 

 off, because all statistics show that 

 with civilization and industrial pro- 

 gress, although wood is replaced for 

 many uses, the net result is a greater 

 demand for wood. In the Kauri tree 

 New Zealand has probably the most 

 valuable timber tree in the world. Its 

 timber is unsurpassed by any other in 

 the chief timber markets of the world. 

 It grows nearly twice as fast as 

 European timber trees, and where it is 

 now deficient in the forest it can 

 be interplanted to a full stock at 

 about the cost of grassing. My 

 investigations have shown that it is 

 seemingly the largest timber-yield- 

 ing tree in the world, taking 

 recorded dimensions of the historical 

 trees in the Tutamoe forest. It is 

 not quite so thick or so high as some 

 other giant trees, but it cubes larger 

 than they do, on account of the 

 small amount of taper in the trunk. 



Living would be appreciably cheap- 

 er with abundant timber and firewood 

 at people's doors. There is a fire- 

 wood famine at present in New 

 Zealand, firewood near most of the 

 industrial centres being as dear as 

 good sawable timber in Europe 

 whiiC a timber famine is rapidly 

 approaching. New Zealand at pres- 

 ent is being stinted and starved in 

 one of the prime necessaries of civil- 

 ization — timber and firewood. The 

 present use of timber in New Zealand 

 has become restricted to an average of 

 only 25 cubic feet per capita, w^hile 

 the United States has a yearly 

 consumption of 160 cubic feet timber 

 and 96 cubic feet firewood. Germany 

 with a large population on a small 

 area, has a yearly consumption of 

 19 cubic feet timber and 18 cubic 

 feet firewood, thus releasing a large 



surplus of coal for expqrtation. Other 

 countries, excepting England, show 

 similar figures. New Zealand with 

 its comparatively small population 

 is already importing half a million 

 pound's worth of timber yearly, and 

 much coal. 



The millable forests of New Zea- 

 land contain over double the timber 

 per acre of the great national forests 

 of the United States of America, 

 covering an area of over twice the 

 total land area of New Zealand. 



The market value of New Zealand 

 timber in the forest is now nearly 

 double European prices; and the 

 growth of the trees, if the forests 

 were cultivated as in Europe, would 

 probably be about double the growth 

 of European timber trees. 



STUDIES IN PULP FORESTS. 



The study of the cut over pulp 

 wood lands undertaken last year by 

 the Commission of Conservation, with 

 the co-operation of the Laurentide 

 Company, Ltd., is being continued 

 this year and the co-operation of the 

 Department of Lands and Forests 

 of the Province of Quebec and of the 

 Riordon Paper Company, Ltd., has 

 been obtained. The final results of 

 this work will show just what the 

 future has in store and give a working 

 basis for the intelligent formulation 

 of working plans and proper utiliza- 

 tion of pulp wood lands so as to 

 insure a perpetual supply. The 

 whole subject is a matter of prac- 

 tical common sense and sound busi- 

 ness judgment. This is demonstrated 

 by the fact that two most successful 

 paper companies are taking the great- 

 est interest in this investigation, 

 showing that the policy of looking 

 to the future, which has made them 

 successful, will now be applied to 

 their forest properties. 



Sixty-one million out of the 121 

 million acres which make up Spain's 

 area are mountain and waste land. 



