40 BULLETIN 354, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Stated in one lump sum it seems considerable, yet it is equivalent to 

 scarcely 185 cubic feet per capita — less than the annual per capita 

 consumption of the United States or Canada. 



The value of this resource is $6,780,000, on the basis of 3 cents a 

 cubic foot for all material except timber, which is estimated at 15 

 cents. The value of any by-products and the far more important 

 soil protective value are, of course, left entirely out of account. 

 The wood value alone, however, if invested at 5 per cent, would 

 yield in interest approximately $340,000. The expenditure through 

 an appropriation from the insular treasury of less than 6 per cent of 

 this latter amount, or about $20,000, for a forest service to protect 

 and improve the principal, would seem, therefore, to be a fully war- 

 ranted, sound, and businesslike policy. 



Lumber and Timber Imports. 



Commercial expansion during the last few years has created a 

 heavy demand for building lumber, timbers, and the like, which, 

 because of the scarcity of suitable native woods, have been imported. 

 Naturally most of this material has come from the United States, 

 the Gulf ports more particularly. 



Imports of forest products from the United States for the fiscal 

 year 1911 totaled $1,308,579, an increase of 225 per cent over those 

 of 1909. Besides this the United States supplied furniture and other 

 manufactures of wood amounting to $684,560. Foreign lumber, 

 timber, and manufactures to the amount of $131,623 were imported, 

 of which material worth $14,616 came through the United States. 

 The gross value from all sources was thus $2,124,762, of which lum- 

 ber, timber, etc., exclusive of naval stores or manufactures of wood, 

 amounted to $1,382,506. 



The quantity of wood imported, exclusive of such products as 

 shingles, box shooks, etc., amounts to 9,120,872 cubic feet (54,616,000 

 feet b. m.), including 8,382,064 cubic feet (50,192,000 feet b. m.) in 

 lumber, scantling, and sawed timber from the United States, and 

 738,808 cubic feet (4,424,000 feet b. m.) from abroad. In addition, 

 there was imported from the United States 26,717 cubic feet in 

 hewed timber. Thus the grand total of wood imports amounted to 

 9,147,589 cubic feet, or about 8.2 cubic feet per capita. 



Demands for Wood. 



The demands for wood products are about half for commercial 

 and half for domestic uses. Most of the commercial demands are 

 supplied by imports. The commercial demands supplied by native- 

 grown wood come chiefly from power development, which takes 

 3,633,336 cubic feet (43,513 cords) each year, equivalent to 3.25 



