CHAPTER II 
WHAT THE FORESTS DO FOR US 
Tue full value of forests to a community or nation 
is difficult to estimate because the forest touches the 
life of the people in so many different ways. Aside 
from supplying the saw timber of commerce, furniture, 
etc., it is used in structural ways for which no good 
substitute has yet been obtained. Even the substitutes, 
like steel and cement which are replacing timber in 
the building of bridges and houses, etc., require a con- 
siderable amount of lumber for their manufacture and 
transportation. 
Minor products, like shoe pegs, spools and musical 
instruments consume an amount of timber that is as- 
tonishing. In New York State over 8,000,000 board 
feet of lumber are used each year in the manutacture 
of wooden novelties, and over 6,000,000 board feet are 
consumed in the manufacture of clocks and _ toys. 
Houses, furniture, railroads, shipyards, newspapers and 
books all depend upon the products of the forest. A 
shortage of timber would be almost as disastrous as a 
famine in foodstuffs. 
Statistics are likely to be dry reading, and for that 
reason when the amount of lumber consumed in the 
various industries of this country is given, it will be 
expressed in terms common to our daily life. For 
instance, in the United States we manufacture each 
year no less than 40,000,000,000 board feet of sawn 
lumber. This stupendous amount is sufficient to make 
a boardwalk three feet wide six times around the world, 
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