14 CIRCULAR 21, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Table 2. — Character of forests by continents 



Continent 



Area of conifer 

 forests 



*S42T5£l Area of tropical 



woods 



hardwoods 



Europe 



Asia. 



Africa 



Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania 



North America 



South America 



Total 



Square 

 miles 

 904,770 

 1, 388, 799 

 11,514 , 

 23,766 j 

 1,634,113 . 

 169,531 j 



Percent- 

 age 

 21.9 

 33.6 

 .3 

 .6 

 39.5 

 4.1 



j 4,132,493 i 100.0 1,883,013 100.0 

 I 



Square 

 miles 

 304, 789 

 893, 483 

 27, 297 

 24,006 

 453, 750 

 179,688 



Percent- 

 age 

 16.2 

 47.5 

 1.4 

 1.2 

 24.1 



Square 

 miles 



992, 741 



1, 207, 217 

 395, 133 

 168, 320 



2, 920, 609 



\ Perce ni- 

 ', age 

 0.0 

 17.5 

 21.2 

 7.0 

 3.0 

 51.3 



Table 3. — Annual production of wood 



Continent 



Saw timber 



Firewood 



Ah wood 



Total 



Per acre 



Total 



Per acre 



Total 



Per acre 



North America... . ... . . 



MiUion 



cu.ft. 



14, 986 



9,160 



1,556 



259 



62 



93 



Cu.ft. 

 10.4 

 11.9 



.8 

 .12 

 .08 

 .33 



MiUion 



cu.ft. 



12, 821 



7.843 



6,372 



2,233 



655 



182 



Cu.ft. 

 8.9 

 10.1 

 3.0 

 1.07 

 .82 

 .64 



MiUion 



cu.ft. 



27,806 



17,003 



7,929 



2,492 



717 



275 



Cu.ft. 

 19.3 



Europe . . . . . . ... 



22.0 





3.8 



Sotith America.. 



1.2 



Africa . -.-..-.. 



.9 



Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania 



.97 



Total 



20, 116 



3.49 



30. 106 



4.02 



56,222 



7 51 







Table 4. — Present cut and growth of the three principal kinds of forest 



Kind of forest 



Cut 



Growth 



Total ; Per acre ! Total : ; Per acre 



Million 

 : cu.ft. 



Conifers 27,500 



Temperate Zone hardwoods 23,500 



Tropical hardwoods 5,000 



Cu. ft. 



10.4 



19.6 



1.4 



Million 



cu.ft. 



23,500 



9,500 



5,000 



Cu.ft. 

 8.9 

 8.0 



1.4 



Table 5. — Annual consumption of wood 



All wood 



Continent 



Total 



Per 

 capita i 



Saw timber 



L 



Firewood 



Million 



I cu.ft. Cu.ft. 



North America I 27,192 188. 



Europe ! 16,641 35.8 



Asia 7,917 9. 1 



South America i 2,527 39.2 



Africa 1 774 5.7 



Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania 297 36. 1 



Total. 



55, 348 



MiUion 

 cu.ft. 



14, 372 



8,844 



1,539 



294 



114 



114 



Per cent 

 52.8 

 53.1 

 19.4 

 11.6 

 14.7 

 38.6 



32.2 



25.27 



45. 6 



MiUion 



cu.ft. 



12,820 



7,797 



6,378 



2,233 



660 



183 



30, 071 



1 The figures for total cut and those for total consumption for the world as a whole do not exactly cor- 

 respond, although ns a matter of fact they must be approximately equal. The differences are due to vari- 

 ous discrerjancies in the data, such as differences in the years for which figures on individual countries 

 are based^different converting factors used in different countries, and differences in completeness of cus- 

 toms statistics. 



