386 



CEXSUS STATISTICS OF FOREST PRODUCTS. 



the year reported, the latter employing 18,003 men and $6,989,971 in 

 capital. There were 8,429 houses built within the year of brick and 

 stone and 45,G84 of wood, employing the labor of 85,501 men and capi- 

 tal to the amount of $41,917,401. 



4. — Census returns of 1850, 1860, and 1870. 



As these census enumerations were all made under the same act, and 

 by agents under nearly similar instructions, they may be shown some- 

 what in connection. 



Area of forest land. — Before 1870, agricultural land was simply re- 

 ported as " improved " or " unimproved," the latter term being altogether 

 indefinite in its meaning, and alike including woodlands, prairies, and 

 marshes. In 1870, an attempt was first made to separate this uncertain 

 class into "woodlands" and " unimproved, not woodlands," but as lands 

 not in farms were not included in the enumeration, and as the returns 

 from some districts were very imperfectly made in this respect, the re- 

 sult is far from being reliable. 



We present the general result by groups of States in the following 

 table, and a comparison of the total area as reported by the census, 

 with the areas of the States as generally allowed in geographical me- 

 moirs. 



5. — Comparison of forest areas — Census of 1870. 



