8 BULLETIN 55, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



This estimate is undoubtedly very ci-ude, but even a crude estimate 

 seems better than none. 



Only within the last four or five years have any records been kept 

 of the cut of balsam fir for various purposes. Growing with spruce, 

 and being used for the same purposes, it always went under the name 

 of spruce. 



According to the census reports for 1909, the total lumber cut of bal- 

 samfirfortheUnitedStatesforl909i amounted to 108,702,000feet, and 

 according to the census report for 1910, 132,362 cords, or 66,181,000 

 board feet, for pulp. The total annual cut of balsam fir in the 

 United States at present is about 175,000,000 board feet. At this 

 rate, the present stand, not counting the increment, will last for 

 about 30 vears. 



MAINE. 



In Maine, balsam fir is most common in the eastern part of the 

 State, especially in the big flat country at the head of the St. John and 

 Penobscot Rivers and theh tributaries, and along the coast for about 

 10 miles inland, where it constitutes nearly one-fifth of the coniferous 

 forests. In the western part of the State, along the Androscoggm 

 and Kennebec Rivers, its proportion in the forest is comparatively 

 small. . - 



From actual measurements by the Forest Service, extended over 

 many hundred acres and upon estimates obtained from persons most 

 famihar with the Maine forests, it is safe to assume that balsam fir 

 constitutes in volume for the whole State not less than 15 per cent 

 of the spruce stand. Based upon an estimate by the Maine forest 

 commissioner m his annual report for 1902, which gives the present 

 stand of spruce as 21,239,000,000 feet, the present stand of balsam fir 

 in Maine approximates 3,000,000,000 board feet. 



Replies to chcular letters sent out in 1903 by the Forest Service 

 to all saw and pulp mills in Maine, regarding the use of balsam fii', 

 justify the conclusion that about 70,000,000 board feet of this species 

 is being cut annually for pulp and lumber. This estimate is con- 

 firmed by the statistics of the Bureau of the Census, which show that 

 in 1910, 32,861 cords, or approximately 16,500,000 board feet,^ of 

 balsam fir was cut for pulp in Mame, and that in 1909 nearly 

 50,500,000 board feet was cut for lumber. This would make the 

 total annual cut of balsam fir in Maine about 67,000,000 board feet. 

 The amount of balsam fir used by the sawmills appears to be pro- 

 portionately larger than the amount used by the pulp mills. This is 

 undoubtedly due to the great amount of spi-uce used for pulp. Pulp 



» The total cut of balsam fir for lumber in 1910 was 74,580,000 board feet, but this figure does not include 

 the cut in the State of New York, and therefore is incomplete For this reason the figures for 1909 were 

 used. 



» In converting cords into board feet, 2 cords are taken to be equal to 1,000 board feet. 



