WHITE PINE. 19 



and the milling, driving, grading, etc., are done witli remarkable 

 care and economy. Ordinary mature timber yields about 4 to 

 4 1-2 logs per tree, wbere 5 to 7 logs cut 1 thousand feet B. M. 

 The general average diameter of the pine logs is at present only 

 about 14 inches and it takes 10 logs to make 1000 feet B. M. 

 Where much red (Norway) pine is cut, the size is even smaller; 

 large quantities are logged today where 15 to 20 logs are re- 

 quired to make 1 M. ft. B. M. 



Future. — The future of pine supplies necessarily depends on 

 the amount of growing timber and its chance to grow. Through- 

 out the hardwood districts there is no young growth of pine of 

 any consequence. Some groves of young pine occui- on many 

 old and burned over slashings on the sandy loam and loamy 

 sand districts, where settlement has put a stop to the fires. In 

 all pineries proper many thickets of young pine occur which 

 have spnmg up during the last 26 years, but most of these are 

 on land either never logged before or else but lightly culled. 

 If protected, these groves could soon furnish a considerable 

 quantity of merchantable timber, but under present conditions 

 most of them wiU be crippled or entirely killed by fires or else 

 cut into cord wood for shook purposes. By far the best ex- 

 ample of thrifty young white pine on old burned over slashings 

 may be seen at Shawano; other fine groves occur abundantly 

 near Grand Rapids, and other places on the Wisconsin river and 

 also on the Chippewa and its tributaries. These groves of pine 

 have sprung up so gradually that in many cases persons familiar 

 with the place are astonished when the young pine are pointed 

 out to them. After the first fires the land is covered by fire- 

 weed and aspen, then it is usually burned over a few times more, 

 until the bulk of the debris is consumed, when the aspen is given 

 a chance to form thickets of greater denseness. The common 

 notion is that this is the end, that the land is now to continue in 

 aspen and that aspen is the alternate in a "natural rotation" of 

 pine and hardwoods. If, however, there are any survivors of 

 pine near by — a common case, especially on slashings of former 

 years — young pine seedlings will soon make their appearance 



