8 



exhausted the forest has slowly crept back and reclaimed the land, 

 from which it never should have been removed. 



In the second j^lace. inaccessibility accounts for the continued forest 

 character of the Appalachian region. With the low prices which 

 prevailed until a few years ago, it did not pay to bring the timber 

 down from the higher mountains. So it was allowed to remain. 



AATiile other causes may have had local influence, these conditions 

 in the main account for the fact that the Ap^Dalachians have main- 

 tained their hardwood production. Nevertheless, some of the Appa- 

 lachian States have gone back badly. Kentucky and Tennessee show 

 heaA-y declines. In these States the lumbermen have gone farther and 

 farther into the forest, until, even in the most inaccessible parts, little 

 viro:in orowth remains. 



to o 



It is only in the extreme portions of the mountains that the cut 

 has held up or increased. i\Iaine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in 

 the North, and North Carolina in the South, show increased cuts. 

 Not one of these States, however, shows anything like the production 

 that Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, or Tennessee has shown in the past. 



The plain truth is that in the Appalachians, as in the other regions, 

 the hardwood lumbermen are w^orking upon the remnants. The 

 supply is getting short and the end is coming into sight. 



HOW LONG WILL THE SUPPLY LAST? 



In view of existing situation, it is important to consider as closely 

 as possible how long the hardwood supply will last. To reach any 

 conclusion on this point we must know, approximately, how much 

 hardwood we are using yearW, and we must know or estimate the 

 available supply. 



^Miile we know within reasonably close limits how much hardwood 

 is used for the manufacture of lumber, we do not know how much 

 is cut for other purposes. Enormous quantities are required each 

 year for railroad ties, telephone and other poles, piles, fence posts, 

 and fuel, and a great amount is wasted in lumbering and manufacture. 

 The present lumber cut of T-^ billion feet represents i^robably not 

 one-third of the hardwoods yearly used. Twent^^-five billion feet 

 3^early is certainly not a high estimate. 



The amount of standing hardwoods is still more uncertain. There 

 has been no census of standing timber, and there have been but few 

 estimates. The largest estimate sets the figure for hardwoods at 400 

 billion feet. If we are using hardwoods at the rate of 25 billion feet 

 per year, this Avould mean a sixteen 3^ears' supply. The conditions 

 during the past few years suggest no reason for increasing this 

 estinuite. A distinct difference exists between the softwood and the 

 hardwood situation. The supply of softwoods east of the Mississippi 



[Cir. IIG] 



