4 TIMBER 
The United States form a typical example of the 
rapid exhaustion of the woods of a country under the 
advance of civilization and in conjunction with 
insufficient care in husbanding supplies and neglect 
of re-afforestation. The country on its first discovery 
was practically covered with virgin forests of large 
extent, but, by fire, reckless waste, commercial greed 
in marketing all and every sort of timber that could be 
cut down, and an almost total neglect of replanting, 
is within sight of a practical exhaustion of its timber 
supplies. Already it has begun its transition from an 
exporting country to an importing one, large supplies 
from Canada and other places being needed to fill its 
consumers’ demand. It is prophesied that twenty 
years hence no native timber of any kind will be 
available for export. 
Turning from the United States to the various 
central American Republics we find that most of these 
States are well timbered and only partly developed. 
Some, or most, of the West India Islands are depleted 
or in course of becoming exhausted, no provision so 
far as is known having been taken to regenerate. 
Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador have large resources 
which have been little exploited. French Guiana is also 
rich in timber, a similar position being held by British 
Guiana, although in this latter possession, where there 
have been signs of failing supplies, conservation has 
been introduced to a small extent. 
The great and comparatively unknown country of 
Brazil is richly afforested with tropical woods, which 
are all but unknown, while other extensive countries 
in Southern America—Peru, Bolivia and the Argentine— 
are understood to be but sparsely wooded. 
It may thus be seen that a more or less rapid exploita- 
tion of the timber resources of the world is in progress, 
