FORESTRY AND FOREST MANAGEMENT 349 



ing, although even within recent years the losses from fire 

 in some states have exceeded the entire season's cutting. 

 During 1916 very considerable damage was caused by fires 

 in the national forests of the United States, and a total 

 of almost 300,000 acres were burned over. The actual loss 

 per acre is now comparatively small because steps are at once 

 taken to dispose of the remaining timber before it has begun 

 to decay. During the same year two very serious forest fires 

 occurred in Canada : one, on the eastern slope of the Rocky 



FIG. 198. A 56-year-old plantation of white pine at Sharon, Massachu- 

 setts. Photograph from the Wisconsin State Conservation Commission. 



Mountains, did damage to the extent of several million dol- 

 lars ; the other, more serious in that it resulted in the loss 

 of many lives, burned over large areas in the province of 

 Ontario. 



The forests of the United States have been so decreased by 

 this prodigal use of lumber that at present it is being cut 

 more than three times as fast as it is renewed by growth. It 

 has been estimated that at the present rate of cutting all the 

 virgin forests outside the national reserves will have disap- 

 peared by 1950. There has likewise been reckless cutting of 

 the timber for which the demand was greatest, so that cer- 

 tain kinds are almost gone. This condition of affairs is 



