266 



WOOD AND FOREST. 



meeting of the Northern Pine Manufacturers' Association in Minne- 

 apolis, Minn., January 22, 1907, Secretary J. E. Ehodes made this 

 striking statement: 



Since 1895, 248 firms, representing an annual aggregate output of pine 

 lumber of 4*4 billion feet, have retired from business, due to the exhaus- 

 tion of their timber supply. Plants representing approximately 500 million 

 feet capacity, which sawed in 1906, will not be operated in 1907. 



The shifting of the chief sources of supply has, of course, been accom- 

 panied by a change in the kinds of lumber produced. There was a time 

 when white pine alone constituted one-half of the total quantity. In 1900 

 this species furnished but 21.5 per cent., in 1904 only 15 per cent., of the 

 lumber cut. 6 We do not use less pine because we have found something bet- 

 ter, but because we have to put up with something worse. 



The present annual cut of southern yellow pine is about 13*4 

 million M feet, or a little less than one-third of the total cut of all 

 the species. At the present rate of consumption, it is evident that 



within ten or fifteen years, 

 there will be a most serious 

 shortage of it. Meanwhile the 

 cut of Douglas fir on the Pa- 

 cific coast has increased from 5 

 per cent, of the total lumber 

 cut in 1900 to 12 per cent, in 

 1905. This increase is in spite 

 of the fact, already noted (p. 

 262) that the great timber 

 owning companies of the north- 

 west are holding their stump- 

 age for an expected great in- 



Lumber Production y States. 

 producing vr ont billion board ftcf: 

 /907. 



o / i 3 4 



fl/chigan 



Oregon 

 ftortfi Carolina 

 Virginia. 

 \*/e$t Virginia 

 Co /i form a. 

 Alabama 

 flaine 



crease in value. 



Another evidence of short- 

 age is the almost total disap- 

 pearance of certain valuable 

 species. Hickory, which once 

 made American buggies fa- 

 mous, is getting very scarce, and black walnut once commonly used 

 for furniture, is available now for only fine cabinet work, veneers, 

 gun stocks, etc. Hardwoods that are fit for the saw are rapidly de- 



Fig. 116. 



6 Forestry Circular, No. 97. 



