TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



15 



lumber and pulp wood. Early cutting was for local consump- 

 tion, shipbuilding, and export. The homesteads of the first few 

 generations were built of the best virgin timber. Shipbuilding 

 early became one of the chief industries, for which the white 

 pine and oak forests furnished the timber and pitch pine the 

 naval stores. The heavy cutting of early days, particularly 

 for fuel, produced a shortage of wood as early as 1840 in many 

 sections of New England. With the introduction of coal the 

 industrial centers grew, and the movement to the cities and to 

 the new lands of the West resulted In wholesale discontinuance 

 of cultivation. Much of the second growth timber cut to-day 

 dates from this period. 



From the Revolution to about 1840 white pine made up almost 

 the entire softwood cut in New England ; but soon after that 



land rose steadily until it reached a maximum of 3,170 mil- 

 lion feet in 1907. This period of increased production was 

 due to the introduction of portable sawmills, which made small 

 scattered lots available, to the higher prices of low-grade lumber 

 owing to growing scarcity throughout the country of the better 

 grades, and to the large amount of second growth on deserted 

 farms. 



The lumber cut In 1907 was about 7 per cent of the total for 

 the country ; in 1918 it had dropped to 1,400 million feet, or 

 about 4J per cent, and in actual amount It was less than half 

 as much as in 1907. Particularly marked is the decline In 

 softwoods. While in 1907 the cut of softwood in New England 

 formed 7.6 per cent of all the softwoods cut in the country, In 

 1918 it had dropped to 4.3 per cent. 



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spruce operations began. By 1870 the original white pine was 

 practically cut except for scattered trees in northern Maine ; 

 and by 1880 the second growth pine forests were yielding an 

 annual cut of 200 to 300 million board feet. With the extensive 

 use of low-grade pine for boxes and matches, this later increased 

 to 600 million feet. 



Soon after it became known that wootf pulp was a cheap 

 substitute for rags in paper making, mills were built in north- 

 ern New England as well as New York and the chief develop- 

 ment of forest industries during the past 30 years has been in 

 paper manufacture. Spruce alone was used at first, but now 

 large quantities of balsam and hemlock are taken. For book 

 paper poplar Is used chiefly. Probably four-fifths of the pulp 

 wood still comes from the old-growth forests, but an ever-In- 

 creasing proportion must come from second-growth stands. 



Although the lumber business of southern and central Maine 

 reached its peak about 1850, the total lumber cut of New Eng- 



ORIGINAL AND REMAINING FORESTS. 



Area.- With the exception of a few small areas, New England 

 in 1620 was a virgin forest, comprising some 39 million acres. 

 In 1920 not more than 5 per cent of this virgin forest remains. 

 The present forest area is nearly 25 million acres. Of this 

 about 8 per cent, or 2 million acres, is virgin forest, chiefly In 

 Maine, with scattered areas in New Hampshire and Vermont. 

 The last remnant of virgin forest in Connecticut was cut within 

 the past decade. Of the 24,700,000 acres now classed as forest 

 land 44 per cent, or 10,760,000, is in saw timber or pulp wood, 

 while 34 per cent, or 8,370,000 acres, contains nothing but fuel 

 wood, and 22 per cent, or 5,570,000 acres, is nonproductive. 

 With nearly three-fourths of the saw timber and pulp-wood area 

 in Maine, the poor condition of the remaining New England 

 forests is apparent. 



Stand. The original stand of New England was probably in 

 the neighborhood of 400 billion board feet, not including 



