FOREST POLICY. 21 



TABLE No. II. 



Showing Value of Commercial Timber Product of the United States 



since 1850. 



Census. Value of Products. 



IfiSO $ 60,400,000.00 



1860 96,200,000.00 



1870 210,100,000.00 



1880 233,300,000.00 



1890 437,900,000.00 



1900 566,600,000.00 



(XXV.) FOREST AREA. 



(a) Requirements of area for direct utility (timber and fuel 

 supply.) 



Generally speaking, countries having over twenty per cent, of 

 woodlands have enough forest area to supply their lumber industries 

 and their firewood consumption, if such area is properly stocked and 

 conservatively used. 



To supply the present consumption of the United States the pres- 

 ent forest area, ceteris paribus, seems more than sufficient. Seven 

 hundred million acres, the present forest area, should yield, at the 

 rate of 90 feet board measure per acre, sixty-three billion feet board 

 measure per annum. 



Verily, if this enormous stretch of forest were properly stocked 

 and conservatively managed, the lumber consumption of the United 

 States, now about forty-five billion feet b. m., could never exceed, in 

 times to come, the possible increment production of the forest area 

 at hand. 



In Dr. C. A. Schenck's opinion, the lumber consumption in this 

 country has reached its highest pitch anno 1900. 



(b) Requirements of area for indirect utility (supply of water, 

 health, etc.). 



In the deserts, prairies, and prairie borders, there is not and never 

 will be sufficient woodland to influence favorably the general condi- 

 tions of the commonwealth. In the Rocky and in the Appalachian 

 mountains, the forest area is ample, provided that it be kept stocked 

 with trees, and that the litter be left on the ground. In all other sec- 

 tions, the forest area is more than sufficient for the people's welfare, 

 the vicinity of the cities excepted. 



As regards ownership, after Dr. Fernow, 30 per cent, of our 

 woodlands are attached to farms. After Dr. West (Agricultural Year 

 Book, 1898) 36 per cent, of the woodlands of the country are still 

 owned by the United States. The balance of 34 per cent, seems left in 

 the hands of the various States, or is controlled by lumbermen, rail- 

 roads, investors and speculators. 



