16 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
FROM WHENCE SHALL WORLD’S LUMBER BE OBTAINED? 
The collections of woods exhibited by the various nations at the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition of 1904 are of great interest, as they not only show the 
proportionate timber supply of each exhibiting nation, but the character of the 
forests and of tree species as well. 
It has been a favorite pastime with officials of the United States Govern- 
ment, and of several States of the Union, to exploit the vastness of American 
forests, and the incredible amount of timber which is available for market in 
our forest covered territory, and little thought has been given to the perpetua- 
tion of these timbered areas, or as to whence shall the next generation obtain 
wood for the manufactures and for future export trade. 
With the advent of the band saw and the rapid advance in lumbering and 
milling machinery, extensive logging, railways, and increased carrying capa- 
city of ocean vessels and railway freight trains, to say nothing of the destruc- 
tion by great forest conflagrations, the forests of this nation are being rap- 
idly depleted. 
No adequate encouragement to forest extension or perpetuation is given 
by the American Government or by more than one or two States, and scarcely 
anything is being done by individuals. 
It is then a pertinent question, from whence shall the lumber supply of our 
coming generations be obtained? 
A Cabinet officer told the writer a year or so ago that the Philippines con- 
tained vast forests and would supply the world with timber. Other persons 
have thought that Cuba would furnish an inexhaustible quantity of timber. 
And all have looked to the tropics as the great producer of all valuable woods. 
But with the vastly increased demand for timber and lumber from all por- 
tions of the world, the tropics have disappointed the explorers who have been 
seeking wood for the larger commercial and manufacturing enterprises and we 
are forced to look to temperate regions for the great majority of commercial 
timbers. 
As a rule the timbers of tropic regions are of extreme density. The an- 
nual growths are so fine as to require a glass to distinguish them. The rate 
of growth is remarkably slow, requiring several hundred vears to become of 
value for commercial uses. This may be readily understood when the speci- 
mens from all tropic countries are examined. 
It is true there are some more open woods in the tropics, but these are 
usually of but slight value. 
