10 IMPORTANT TIMBER TREES 



disaster of a timber famine can be forestalled. Our down- 

 ward course will begin when our forests fail to supply our 

 needs. 



But supposing it were possible for us to obtain a supply 

 of wood products from abroad, can we afford to put the 

 destinies of this country into the hands of other nations 

 simply because we are loath to do our duty to ourselves and 

 those who are to come after us ? A nation without forests 

 of its own is, undeniably, a weak nation, and one that will 

 be at the mercy of those possessing them. When the 

 world's supply of coal is gone and it is estimated that 

 at the present rate of consumption two hundred years will 

 bring about the practical exhaustion of all known depos- 

 its those nations possessing a full and continuous supply 

 of forest products will be the independent nations of the 

 world. Neither should we flatter ourselves that, in the 

 event of a failure or serious shortage of supply, some sub- 

 stitute for forest products will be found to any considerable 

 extent. The enormous quantities required and the various 

 uses wood is put to preclude the possibility of that. It is 

 wood that we need and wood we must have or the index 

 hand on the dial of progress of this nation will go back- 

 ward never again to return. 



Recent governmental publications 1 show the amount, 

 character, and cost of most of the forest products of the 

 United States for the year 1909. The accompanying table 

 gives the product of 48,112 sawmills for that year. This is 

 instructive, as it names the species of trees and the amount 

 and percentage of lumber cut from each. It will be seen 

 that the thirty-one species named yielded 99.9 per cent of the 

 whole, while, as will be noted, " all others " were embraced 

 in the remaining one tenth of one per cent. The first five 

 furnished 73.1 per cent, the first seven supplied 80.4, and 

 the first ten gave 86.9, while all the several species of pine 



1 Forest Product*, Noa, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9: Bureau of the Census, 

 compiled in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture : Forest Serv- 

 ice. Henry S. Graves, Forester. Issued April 11, 1'Jll. 



