FOREST FIRES. 277 



world. These young forests of Pine are already, then, of 

 great value to New England ; at no very distant day, they 

 must become one of the most important factors in its pros- 

 perity. The problem growing out of the actual condition 

 of the country's supply of White Pine, and the effects 

 which any serious diminution of this supply must have upon 

 our prosperity as a nation, need not be considered here at 

 any great length. 



The entire supply of White Pine growing in the United 

 States and ready for the axe does not to-day greatly, if at 

 all, exceed eighty billion feet, and this estimate includes 

 small and inferior trees, which, a few years ago, would not 

 have been considered at all in making such an estimate. 



The annual production of White-Pine lumber is not now 

 far from ten billion feet, and the demand is constantly and 

 rapidly increasing. The publication of these facts a few 

 months ago has greatly increased, and in some cases more 

 than doubled, the value of Pine lands in parts of the coun- 

 try ; and it does not require any particular powers of fore- 

 sight to be able to predict that the price of White Pine 

 must advance to still higher figures. Enough is now 

 known of our forests to permit the positive statement that 

 no great unexplored body of this Pine remains; and that, 

 with the exception of the narrow Redwood belt of the 

 California coast, no North American forest can yield in 

 quantity, any substitute for White Pine, the most generally 

 valuable, and most generally used of American lumber. 

 Under these circumstances, the growing Pine of New Eng- 

 land will soon become an important element in the country's 

 supply. In no other section is there so much young Pine 

 growing; and if we cannot compete with the West or the 

 South in the production of cereals and wheat, we have at 

 least in our favor, soil and climate better suited to grow 

 Pine than any other part of the country. New England 

 cannot allow this opportunity for increased prosperity to be 

 lost. The demand for White Pine is rapidly increasing ; the 

 extent of the supply is at last known ; no available substi- 

 tute exists to any great extent ; we possess already a con- 

 siderable quantity of young Pine, and greater natural 

 advantages than other parts of the country for growing a 



