THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 51 



Although we are without the statistics which 

 would permit a similar statement regarding the 

 value of our own forest resource, especially as it 

 has not yet come to a stable condition as a man- 

 aged property, yet we may venture to make a rea- 

 sonable guess at some of its conditions, based upon 

 such statistical data as are at hand, and judgment 

 of probabilities. 



Our consumption we can reasonably approxi- 

 mate with a round 25,000,000,000 cubic feet of 

 large-size material, for we do not use the brush- 

 wood to any extent. This, with an estimated 

 area of round 500,000,000 acres, means a cut per 

 acre of 50 cubic feet, while even the most san- 

 guine estimate of new growth for this vast and 

 variously stocked area could not be made to 

 exceed 10 cubic feet of such wood as we utilize 

 per acre and year, and is probably far below 

 this. 



Of this large consumption, however, only one- 

 quarter, or 6,000,000,000 cubic feet goes into bolt 

 or log-size material for mill use, the rest being fire- 

 wood, for which, to be sure, also mostly log-size 

 material is used. The value of the mill material, 

 two-thirds of which is coniferous wood, represents 

 about ;^5oo,ooo,ooo. 



An extravagant estimate of the available timber 

 supplies ready for the axe — a guess which the 

 writer has ventured upon the basis of various 

 statistical data, experiences, and considerations of 



