364 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



1880 to ^30,000,000 in 1890, and to 1^54,000,000 

 in 1900, the security for the future is not as assured 

 as the mathematical statistician figures out from 

 the given data, especially since it is well known 

 that forest fires keep in check useful reproduction 

 and also consume or make useless considerable 

 quantities of standing timber. (See note on 

 page 336.) 



Unsatisfactory as is our statistical knowledge 

 of our forest resources, it is sufficient to arouse 

 most serious apprehension as to future supplies. 

 We have, in the forests of the United States out- 

 side of Alaska, a supply of coniferous material 

 most unevenly distributed and not exceeding 

 1,200,000 million feet to satisfy a demand of at 

 present 30,000 million feet per annum and con- 

 stantly growing. Even if the estimates of supplies 

 were doubled, and if fires were stopped, it must be 

 evident to any student of the field that the repro- 

 duction, left to nature alone, cannot replace in time 

 our requirements. 



The argument for the adoption of immediate 

 recuperative and conservative measures from the 

 supply point of view, in which the writer for a 

 quarter century has used his breath and pen 

 with indifferent result, would appear well sus- 

 tained. 



Small beginnings toward the solution of the prob- 

 lems which arise from this condition of things have 

 been made, but the importance of the forestry 



