FOREST POLICY. 



4. Forest ownership: 204 saw-mill firms own 2,108,000 

 acres of 2,000 feet (only?) stumpage. Paper firms own several 

 hundred thousand acres of woodland, largely cut over. 22.4% of 

 woodland is attached to farms. 



S- Use of timber: The State contains 832 saw mills, of 

 $11,754 average investment. Stumpage costs $2.52; logs at mill, 

 $8.is per 1,000 feet b. m. 



Value of output of saw mills and timber camps was: — 



1850 $ 5,900,000 



i860 6,600,000 



1870 11,400,000 



1880 7,900,000 



1890 11,800,000 



1900 13,500,000 



The cut for saw mills in 1900 consisted of: — 



Spruce 425,000,000 feet b. m. 



White pine 220,000,000 feet b. m. 



Hemlock 89,000,000 feet b. m. 



Other conifers 87,000,000 feet b. m. 



Hardwoods 29,000,000 feet b. m. 



Total 850,000,000 feet b. m. 



There were produced in the census year $903,000 worth 

 of shingles, $408,000 worth of cooperage stock, $364,000 worth of 

 lath, $600,000 worth of boxes, $20,000 worth of baskets and wood- 

 enware, $294,000 (60% of output of United States) worth of bob- 

 bins and spools (white birch) (Ring reports a production of 800,- 

 000,000 spools, worth $1,000,000, for 1903). 



The hardwood industries are increasing with the expansion 

 of the railroads ("Hardwood Novelty Mills"). Modern lumber- 

 ing is astonishingly conservative and never destroys the chances 

 of a good second growth. Conservative lumbering in pure spruce 

 woods ("black growth") is, however, apt to be followed by sweep- 

 ing blow-downs. Logging for pulp, consuming about 275,000,000 

 feet b. m. annually, is less wasteful than logging for lumber. 

 Saw mills, on the other hand, are less interested in permanent 

 supplies than pulp mills. Average age of spruce logs is about 200 

 years. The use of the cross-cut saw is novel in the Maine woods. 

 Logs are usually peeled (which requires summer cutting), and 



38 



