HARDWOOD SUPPLIES. 27 



generally prove considerably below the truth, but it seems de- 

 sirable to have at least some estimate, however crude, of this 

 material, especially as^ it is already beginning to bave a market 

 value as pulp wood. Including everything from 4 inched up 

 there are probably about 800,000 cords. The balsam fir has no 

 future, the ground it occupies is largely farm land, its growth, 

 is too slow, its size too small to commend it to future operations. 



HARDWOOD SUPPLIES. 



No sharp limits of distribution or composition of the great 

 tardwood forest are, possible, aside from the general outlines of 

 the part which bears hemlock and birch as differentiated from 

 the oak forest. Basswood, maple, elm, and ash, the principal 

 hardwoods aside from oak and birch, all entered into the com- 

 position of the hardwood forest in nearly all parts of this area, 

 though in widely varying proportions. Thus in one locality 

 «lm forms 30 per cent, and more of the woods, while in another, 

 but few miles distant and with soil, drainage, etc., alike, the elm 

 is nearly replaced by basswood or birch. ISTor is it easy to draw 

 lines with reference to size and quality of development. Good 

 timber on good soUs passes by easy stages into inferior timber 

 on poorer soils, and it is but fair to say that some good timber 

 grows in every county. In general it is an unquestionable and 

 well recognized fact that the hardwood timber becomes smaller 

 and scrubbier toward the north; and, when the extremes, as for 

 instance the hardwoods of Dunn or of Shawano counties are 

 compared with those of Iron and Douglas counties, this truth 

 is quite apparent, but the transition is gradual and any apparent 

 lines of demarcation are generally explained by differences in 

 ■soil rather thar effects of climate. In the southern portion of 

 the area under consideration, the hardwoods attain considerable 

 dimensions. Oak, basswood, and elm 90 to 100 feet high and 

 over 30 inches thick are nothing unusual. In general, how- 

 ■ever, the mature timber is under 30 inches in diameter and under 

 T5 feet in height, and on large tracts shorter than 60 feet and 

 Tinder 20 inches. 



