EXHAUSTION OF THE FOREST. 269 



species and qualities and smaller sizes, which were once rejected, are 

 now accepted in the market. For example, 6 inches is now a common 

 cutting diameter for pine and spruce, whereas 12 inches was the 

 minimum limit, and on the Pacific coast there is still nothing cut 

 below 18 inches. This cutting of smaller sizes is largely due to the 

 capacious maw of the pulp mill, which swallows even the poorest 

 stuff. Altho the amount of wood used for paper pulp is small in 

 comparison with the total lumber production, being about 5.4 per 

 cent., yet this cutting of young growth keeps the forest land devas- 

 tated. In 1906 nearly 9,000,000 tons of wood were used for paper 

 pulp in the United S.tates. 



No one who is at all familiar with the situation doubts for an instant 

 that we are rapidly using up our forest capital. In fact it is unquestionably 

 safe to say that our present annual consumption of wood in all forms is 

 from three to four times as great as the annual increment of our forests. 

 Even by accepting the highest estimate of the amount of timber standing 

 we postpone for only a few years the time when there must be a great cur- 

 tailment in the use of wood, if the present methods of forest exploitation 

 are continued. Every indication points to the fact that under present con- 

 ditions the maximum annual yield of forest products for the country as a 

 whole has been reached, and that in a comparatively short time, there will 

 be a marked decrease in the total output, as there is now in several items. 

 (Kellogg, Forestry Circular, No. 97, p. 12.) 



On the other hand, it is to be remembered that there are influ- 

 ences which tend to save and extend the forest area, These will be 

 considered in the next chapter, on the Use of the Forest. 



