FORESTS OF PORTO RICO. 43 



take the place of wood. The change would necessitate not only the 

 displacing of the customs of centuries, but an investment in stoves 

 and burners, which the average person can not afford. The domestic 

 per capita consumption of fuel can therefore be expected to rise from 

 year to year. 



The sugar mills are now the largest commercial users of native 

 wood. Under present improved methods the refuse cane fiber, known 

 as " bagasse," is burned under the boilers, which effects a considerable 

 wood saving. Some wood is still required to sustain this " bagasse" 

 fuel, but as one " central" has already substituted crude oil for this 

 purpose with satisfactory results, it is possible that in time all the 

 larger mills at least may likewise adopt that fuel. It is thus probable 

 that the maximum demands on the native wood supply have been 

 reached by this industry. A gradual decline may consequently be 

 expected. 



The bakeries are the second largest commercial consumers of 

 wood, and they demand cordwood of regulation size. The possi- 

 bility of their changing to oil or other substitute fuel seems remote at 

 the present time. The business is conducted on a small scale, with 

 too limited a capital to justify such an outlay. The Army bakeries 

 also consume a relatively large amount of cordwood. Any imme- 

 diate decrease in demands of these or other industries where wood is 

 largely used in the generation of power is thus hardly to be looked for. 



BALANCING SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 



Everything points to a sustained or an increased demand for wood. 

 Commercial expansion can and will be taken care of by an increased 

 volume of imports. But local and domestic needs accommodate 

 themselves less readily and less promptly to new sources of supply. 

 With production falling behind consumption, hardship and depriva- 

 tion must be the inevitable consequences. This condition promises 

 to grow more serious unless relief can be had through increased pro- 

 duction. Two ways are open to effect this — planting new forests and 

 improving the existing woodlands. 



The restoration of a reasonable balance between cleared lands and 

 forests is necessary. One-half million acres under prime forest 

 growth will scarcely more than meet the situation. At present a 

 large part of the 443,000 acres of timber and brush land yields not 

 more than 10 cubic feet per acre a year, worth, at 3 cents per cubic 

 foot, about $135,000. The improvement of these and the planting 

 to new forest growth of 100,000 acres besides would provide approxi- 

 mately one-half acre of productive forest per capita, which is about 

 the minimum required by a people to meet their own needs. A con- 

 servative estimate of the average annual growth to be expected on 

 such area under forest management would be 30 cubic feet per acre, 



