384 The National Geographic Magazine 



fronted by a timber famine would re- 

 quire first of all a knowledge of the 

 composition, quality, and condition of 

 the forests, which it would take man)' 

 years to obtain. At present such an 

 estimate is of little practical value. We 

 do know that the supply of timber of 

 man3' kinds is failing, of other kinds is 

 almost exhausted, and of others is prac- 

 tically gone ; that- black walnut is no 

 more to be had except in small quanti- 

 ties and at enormous expense ; that 

 first-growth white pine is growing rap- 

 idly to be a rarity on the market ; that 

 where the supply of spruce for pulp- 

 wood and for lumber for the next ten 

 years is to be found is a grave question 

 before the lumbermen today. The list 

 of woods accepted as merchantable 

 lengthens from year to year, species 

 hitherto considered valueless being har- 

 vested more and more willingly as the 

 result of the exhaustion of more valu- 

 able kinds. In spite of steady im- 

 provement in tools, logging outfits, and 

 mill machinery, all tending to cheapen 

 the cost of lumbering, the price of 

 lumber increases steadily and rapidly. 

 These are facts more significant than 

 predictions in terms of years of the life 

 of the lumber industry. The exact 

 period for which the existing supplies 

 are sufficient is a matter of detail. The 

 vital point lies in the crisis which the 

 lumber industry is approaching in the 

 exhaustion of the material on which its 

 existence depends. 



The general application of forestry to 

 forest lands owned by lumbermen will 

 probably result in the gradual elimina- 

 tion of the large sawmill and the sub- 

 stitution of those of moderate size. The 

 mammoth milling plant will be rare 

 when only second growth is left to sup- 

 ply it, for the area of timber land suffi- 

 cient to produce the logs necessary to 

 run such a plant is enormous. It is 

 reasonable to expect that the mill of 

 moderate size, supplied by a forest whose 

 production is equal to the mill's annual 



capacity, both under the same manage- 

 ment, will become more and more the 

 rule. The very existence of the enor- 

 mous mill is the result of an abundance 

 of timber resources, which exist no 

 longer except in a very few sections. 

 In Europe the long-continued applica- 

 tion of conservative measures in lum- 

 bering has resulted in a distribution and 

 type of sawmill little known in this 

 country. Sawmills of large size do not 

 exist, but in their stead small sawmills, 

 for which water generally supplies the 

 power, are distributed throughout the 

 country wherever the local demand is 

 sufficient to keep them running. Their 

 annual cut is for the most part exceed- 

 ingly small, according to our standards, 

 and sufficient only to supply the wants 

 of the immediate adjacent country. 

 The mills saw largel}' on order, and the 

 fact that their construction is permanent 

 and their motive power cheap enables 

 them to run intermittently without loss. 

 The results are upon the whole exceed- 

 ingly satisfactory. The man who wants 

 lumber gets it promptly, and without 

 paying an added cost for long transpor- 

 tation. The antiquated construction of 

 European sawmills is often such that 

 the American lumberman would find in 

 them but a proof of his superior inge- 

 nuity ; but the European distribution 

 of milling plants has its strong advan- 

 tages in several ways. 



The general application of conserva- 

 tive methods in lumbering will inevi- 

 tably result, as has been the case in 

 Europe, in the development of a per- 

 manent class of men trained to forest 

 work. Under present methods this re- 

 sult can never be attained to the same 

 degree. The lumbering in one com- 

 munity is generally so short-lived that 

 there is neither time nor necessity to 

 train up a bod}- of men on the ground 

 to carry out the work. The result is 

 that Maine and Michigan woodsmen are 

 found working in the hardwoods of the 

 Southern Appalachians ; loggers from 



