334 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



This distribution is, of course, mainly due to 

 climatic conditions ; low relative humidity of the 

 air and deficiency of water supplies in the soil 

 having much to do with the absence of forest cover 

 over the larger part of our domain. 



The economic significance of this condition 

 comes with the realization that the bulk of the 

 best agricultural soils of the United States lies 

 within the forestless region, and also that eventu- 

 ally the irrigable portion of the arid regions is 

 destined to be the richest, dependent on a rational 

 management of water supplies, i.e. of the forest 

 cover. On the other hand, while undoubtedly the 

 productive timber area of this region may be arti- 

 ficially extended in a small degree, the main timber 

 production of the country will have to be secured 

 where nature originally placed it, namely on the 

 east side of the continent, where cUmate favors 

 forest growth, and diversity of surface conditions 

 differentiates farm and forest soils. Here, where 

 the centre of population lies, and with it the bulk 

 of consumption, the problems of forestry and of 

 timber production need foremost attention. 



So far, of the vast domain of the United States 

 (1,900,800,000 acres) not one-fourth is occupied by 

 farms ; in most sections of the forest country the 

 farm area ^ falls below 50 per cent and in no state 

 does it exceed 84 per cent. A vast area, there- 



iThe Census of 1900 gives the farm area as 841,201,000 acres, 

 of which, however, only 49.3 per cent are reported as improved. 



