THE FORESTS OF TENNESSEE.* 



BY J. B. KILLEBREW, A.M., PH.D., 



IMMIGRATION COMMISSIONER OF THE NASHVILLE, CHATTANOOGA, AND 

 ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. 



No problem of greater importance was ever presented 

 to the American people than that of the preservation and 

 reproduction of the forests of the country. The accel- 

 erating consumption of timber makes it a question of but 

 a few years when the demand must be restricted or the 

 supplies must be drawn from other countries than our 

 own. At the present rate of consumption a quarter of a 

 century will see all our grand forests denuded of their 

 most valuable timbers. There are now more than $500,- 

 000,000 invested practically for the destruction of our 

 forests, and not $50,000 invested for their preservation 

 and reproduction. This simple statement shows the 

 grave responsibility resting upon the present generation. 



The area in forests in the state of Tennessee, though 

 reported large, will be found, upon a close investigation, 

 to be much less than is generally supposed. According 

 to the eleventh census, Tennessee has 20,161,583 acres 

 in farm lands, of which a little over half, or 10,799,028 

 acres, were classed as unimproved or in woodland. The 

 Comptroller's report for 1896 shows 25,666,159 acres in 

 the state reported for taxation. 



The superficial area in the state, taking the number of 

 square miles as reported by the geological survey of the 

 United States, is 26,912,000 acres, of which there are 192,- 

 000 acres covered by lakes and rivers, leaving as the 

 total land surface 26,720,000 acres. The difference be- 

 tween the number of acres reported by the Comptroller 

 and the entire land surface of the state is 1,053,841 acres, 

 which is, doubtless, to a large extent covered by towns, 

 highways and railroads, and underestimates made by 

 landowners. It will be seen, then, that the difference be- 

 tween the acreage reported for taxation and the acreage 

 reported by the eleventh census is 5,504,576 acres, which 

 may properly be credited to the wild timbered lands and 



*Rcad before the meeting of the American Forestry Association 

 held in Nashville, September 22, 1897. 



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