64 THE FOREST EESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



board feet of manufactured stock, or approximately 37,500,000 cubic 

 feet of logs; and it is estimated that Mexico imports 70 per cent of 

 its timber consumption. Assuming that this is correct, the home 

 consumption of manufactured stock, including ties, would be 125,- 

 000,000 cubic feet, or 9 cubic feet per capita. This low consumption 

 is due to the still undeveloped resources of the country. Whether 

 Mexico will be able to supply its own needs of timber is questionable. 

 At present its imports are more than three times what is cut at home. 

 Ninety-nine per cent of all the imports come from the United States. 



WOOD PRICES. 



The stumpage price for pine, in the remotest and least accessible 

 portions of the country, is as low as 75 cents per thousand feet. 

 Standard-gauge pine ties sell at 45 cents and oak ties at 57 cents 

 apiece delivered at the railroad. Green lumber from the saw is sold 

 at from $17.50 to $32.50 per thousand feet b. m. 



Mahogany and cedar logs shipped from GuK of Mexico points 

 f. o. b. New York command the following prices: Laguna cedar 

 (Cedrella odorata), $45 to $60 per thousand board feet; Laguna 

 mahogan}^ {Swietenia mahagoni) ^ $40 to $55; cedar from other points, 

 $32.50 to'^$57.50; mahogany from other points, $30 to $50. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



The five Central American Republics possess extensive forest areas, 

 which, however, are so little explored that there are no data as to 

 their extent or volume. The reason for the existence of large forest 

 areas in Central America is not due in any way to the care of them 

 by the people, but to the fact chiefly that they are inaccessible on 

 account of lack of roads or any other means of transportation. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



According to Semler,^ South America has an enormous forest 

 wealth. With the exception of the prairies of Uruguay and Argen- 

 tina, most of the continent is covered with forests. The whole chain 

 of the Andes Mountains is wooded, the forests, according to altitude, 

 latitude, and exposure, being of different composition. The cutting 

 has not as yet impaired their value, because, first, the countries of 

 South America are still very thinly settled; and^ second, which is 

 more important, there are comparatively^ few rivers suitable for 

 transporting timber to the coast. Not a single State has made any 

 forest survey or has any clear idea of its forest resources. 



The eastern coast of South America, south of Rio de la Plata to 

 the Straits of Magellan, is extremely sparsely wooded. ^ Only here and 

 there are found a few thorny acacias, and along the rivers individual 

 groups of allows, and occasionally antarctic beech, forms larger 

 stands. In remarkable contrast to these are the islands of Tierra 

 del Fuego, which, according to Dar\\dn, are completely covered with 

 forest. 



o Tropische und Nordamerikanisclie Waldwirtschaft und ' Holzkunde— Heinrich 

 Semler, Berlin, 1888. 



