ANNUAL INCREMENT OF THE FORESTS. 



67 



4. Annual Increment of the Forests. 



The data available for estimating the actual increment of home- 

 grown timber are very limited, and the following figures must be 

 accepted with reserve. More accurate data on the production of 

 timber have lately been pubhshed by the Forestry Commission 

 in Bulletin Xo. 3, but they refer to well-stocked coniferous 

 woods and make no allowance for understocking. 



The estimated average annual increment during the years 

 1909 — 1913, after allowing 10 per cent, for loss by fire, decay, 

 waste, &c., amounts to 47 million cubic feet. It is estimated 

 that, owing to the felliug of about 750 million cubic feet on 

 470 square miles during the war, the increment in the immediate 

 future is not hkely to exceed 37 miUion feet annually, unless the 

 cleared areas are replanted without delay. 



5. Imports and Exports of Timber. 



The import of timber into the United Kingdom began to grow 



during the second half of the eighteenth century ; reliable data 



are available only from the year 1843 onwards. They show the 



following average annual imports of unmanufactured timber : — 



The above statement shows that the average increase per 

 decade amounts to 1,288,000 loads, with a maximum of 2,171,000 

 loads during the decade 1893 — 1£02. Another maximum seemed 

 to have commenced in 1913, when the outbreak of the war 

 altered the usual conditions. Of the imported timber 90 per cent, 

 was coniferous wood and 10 per cent, so-called hard woods. 



The figures also show that the price per load fell from 1853 to 

 1892. About the latter year it had reached a minimum ; since 

 that time the price has risen slowly but steadily, so that the 

 increase between 1892 and 1913 represents 28 per cent. On 



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