390 



RECREATION. 



200 years or so the rate of growth is 

 rapid ; trees of that age being 3 to 4 feet 

 in diameter. The next foot is made in 

 another 200 years and then a -slow rate 

 sets in until death occurs. How these trees 

 come to their end is still an unsolved prob- 

 lem, for their wood is rot resisting to such 

 a degree that the usual cause of the death 

 of trees, fungus disease seems ruled out. 

 Fires often lay these giants, and in this 

 particular tract some prehistoric fires have 

 ravaged and damaged many of them ; the 

 surrounding young growth showing that 

 the last fire occurred more than a hun- 

 dred years ago. 



The preservation of this wonderful 

 growth is a matter which interests not only 

 the citizens of the State or the United 

 States, but of the world, and it is hoped 

 tnat no mishap or ill-considered economy 

 will prevent the consummation of the pro- 

 posed State park, which will equal in in- 

 tere t the Big Trees and exceed them in 

 general usefulness on account of its acces- 

 sibility. 



PULP WOOD SUPPLY RUNNING SHORT. 



The realization of a shortage in the nat- 

 ural supply of materials for paper manu- 

 facture is beginning to scare the newspaper 

 world and suggestions regarding the rem- 

 edy for a paper pulp famine are making 

 the rounds of the presc. Among these is 

 one proposition made by the League of 

 A .erican Sportsmen at its last annual 

 meeting, calling on Congress to offer a re- 

 ward of $200,000 to any inventor bringing 

 forth a substitute for wood pulp. Some 

 ithusias^'c lover of nature goes so far as 

 to assert that "the man who shall invent 

 a cheap and satisfactoiv substitute for 

 wood pulp for paper will do more for for- 

 ests and flowers than all the Legislatures 

 in the country could accomplish in a cen- 

 tury." 



There was a time when the world could 

 get along without wood pulp. Indeed, the 

 use of wood pulp for paper in the United 

 States is hardly 30 years old and assumed 

 dimensions only 20 years ago. Since then, 

 to be sure, the consumption has increased 

 at a marvelous rate. While in 1881 the 

 dailv capacity of pulp mills was less than 

 800.000 pounds, it had more than doubled 

 in 1887, and again more than doubled with- 

 in 2 years in 1889, when it was nearly 

 4.000,000 pounds. Then rising steadily by 

 about i.ooo.ooo pounds a year, it is now 

 probably 15.000,000 pounds. This means 

 an annual output of 1,500,000 tons of pulp, 

 requiring 2,500,000 cords of wood. To this 

 is added, in spite of high tariff rates, 2 to 

 3 million dollars' worth of imported wood 

 pulp. This suggests the query how the 

 abolition of tariff duties would help the 



question of lengthening supplies. Alto- 

 gether, then, we now require annually about 

 3,000,000^ cords of pulp wood. 



If we take only 10 cords an acre of virgin 

 forest as an average stand of material used 

 for pulp wood, in the region now mainly 

 concerned in the manufacture, 300,000 acres 

 must be cut over annually to secure this 

 supply. If we believe tne measurings and 

 figurings of the United States Forestry 

 Bureau, the same quantitv can be cut from 

 the same acres in less than 25 years, again 

 and again; hence, we would need less than 

 10,000,000 acres to fur nsh these supplies 

 continuously, if the demand is not increased 

 and the cutting is done with care. 



The Northeastern States alone have 

 twice that acreage fit for nothing else than 

 timber growing; and if the owners would 

 only study the question they could soon 

 solve the problem of future wood pulp 

 supplies by growing them at the rate of one 

 cord an acre each year, under forestry 

 methods. 



Meanwhile, there are still large supplies 

 in other parts of the country. The whole 

 area of the Alaska coast forest, for in- 

 stance, some 20,000 square miles, is one big 

 wood pulp forest. Moreover, thousands of 

 cords of pulp wood are wasted annually in 

 all lumber districts, for finally the waste, 

 tops and branches are fit enough for that 

 use. Again, while manufacturers are still 

 particular as to the species they want, con- 

 stant changes are made. Some time ago 

 balsam fir was refused by them; then a 

 certain percentage was mixed with the 

 spruce; now it is taken freely, and hemlock 

 is also acceptable. Thus, by extension in 

 the use of species, supplies will be in- 

 creased. 



Finally the "making of paper from corn 

 stalks, wheat, straw and other vegetable 

 product," for which the United States Con- 

 gress was to offer a reward, is already an 

 accomplished fact. Saw palmetto and many 

 other vegetable fibers have long been 

 known to be useful for the purpose, and 

 the main question is merely as to the rela- 

 tive cost. It is stated that the National 

 Fiber-Cellulose Company has been organ- 

 ized to make use of corn stalks for paper 

 manufacture. 



Foresters who have the commercial suc- 

 cess of their art at heart, do not, however, 

 wish to reduce the use of wood materials 

 in any of the arts, and especially of the 

 inferior and small sized materials, such as 

 the acid factory is using and the pulp mill 

 can use, when economy demands it. It is 

 only reform in the manner of using the 

 forest and attention to reproduction, that 

 the forester advocates. To establish his 

 business firmly an extension in the use of 

 small and inferior parts of his crop is 

 needed. 



