WOOD SUPPLY OF NORTH AMERICA. 125 



sumption was at the rate of 10,000 million per annum and the 

 demand constantly and rapidly increasing. Already by 1885 

 the United States were importing timber from Canada to the 

 value of nearly two million sterling, or about 75 million cubic 

 feet, more than the entire cut of the province of Ontario. That 

 the extreme forecasts of the alarmists have not been wholly 

 realized throughout the United States may be owing to the fact 

 that it has been cheaper for the more densely populated north- 

 eastern States to supplement their own dwindling resources from 

 Canada rather than from the southern States. Thus Mississippi, 

 with 18,200 million feet board measure of Long-leaf Pine stand- 

 ing in 1880 and with an annual cut of 102 million feet, can 

 supply timber at the same rate for 150 years, a period sufficient, 

 with proper conservation, to enable the supply to renew itself. 



Throughout Newfoundland and the Dominion of Canada reck- 

 less waste has prevailed in the past. Forest fires and the absence 

 of replanting has reduced the forest area of Newfoundland to 

 about -}j of the whole area of the country, or some 464,000 acres, 

 bearing White Pine, Spruce (Pfcea alba and ni'gra), Tamarack or 

 Red Larch (Li'irix microcdrpd), said to be better than that of the 

 mainland, Yellow Birch (Betula excelsa), and Poplar. Prince 

 Edward's Island produces the same species, together with Rock 

 Maple (Acer barbdtum), Hemlock Spruce (Tsuga canadensis), and 

 the valuable Cedar (Juniperus virginidna), which has been largely 

 sacrificed for railway purposes ; but fires and clearings have 

 largely diminished the supply, the annual cut being more than 17 

 times the increment Nova Scotia had 9 million acres of timber 

 land in 1875, but the annual cut was for years 25 per cent, more 

 than the increment. Hackmatack or Larch (Ldrix americdna), 

 White Pine and Hemlock Spruce, are the chief species. New 

 Brunswick had but 6 million ares of timber land in 1874, mainly 

 covered with hardwoods. Sleepers of Cedar (Cuprdssus thytides) 

 and Hemlock bark-extract for tanning are important articles of 

 export, besides deals, consisting mostly of Black Spruce (Pfcea 

 nigra). In the province of Quebec the lumber industry is still by 

 far the most important trade; but, whereas in 1874 there were 74 



