TREES 373 



of the land. Every year great numbers of balsams, spruce, 

 and other evergreens are cut and sold for Christmas trees. 

 Forests are used for pasturing cattle, sheep, and goats. 



A great deal of cheap paper, used especially in newspapers, 

 is now made from wood pulp. Soft woods, such as poplar 

 and spruce, are cut into small pieces, and macerated or 

 ground into a pulp which is pressed and rolled into paper. 

 Considering the uselessly large size of our metropolitan pa- 

 pers, we can readily see that in order to supply the demand 

 for paper large areas of forest land are being denuded. 



The greatest use we make of forests is for lumber for build- 

 ings, bridges, fences, boxes, sidewalks, furniture, and many 

 other purposes. This demand is rapidly destroying our 

 forests. We use over 30,000,000,000 feet of lumber per 

 year in this country, of which 75 per cent, is pine and 

 other conifers. This is three times as much lumber per 

 capita as is used by Europeans. Our " frame" houses 

 illustrate the great use we make of lumber. When our 

 forests are gone, more costly yet more enduring brick and 

 stone will be used. But this may force into rented tene- 

 ments or apartment houses a large part of our population, 

 who otherwise would have built separate wooden dwell- 

 ing-houses. The destruction of our forests may thus be 

 seen to have an important social effect. 



White pine is the king of the lumber trees. It is common 

 in Minnesota and other northern states and in Canada. 

 Maine is called the Pine Tree State, but it is no longer 

 so in fact, for the great white pine forests there have been 

 practically destroyed. Later, Michigan held chief place in 

 white pine production, then Wisconsin, and now it is Minne- 

 sota, though even here the end of the industry is in sight. 



