FORBSX FIRiEfe. 



135 



skillful management, the total growth per acre, brush and branch wood included, averages only 55 

 cubic feet, it needs no argument to prove that we are cutting yearly far more than can be 

 reproduced, especially when we consider that while in Germany all inferior material is utilized, 

 we use even for firewood purposes good-sized material, body wood, hardly inferior to saw timber, 

 so that the comparison should be rather with the production of what the Germans call "derbholz," 

 including all material over 3 inches, which averages hardly 38 cubic feet per acre and year. 



The inadequacy of our supplies for continuous use at the present rate, it must appear, is 

 unquestionable, unless we apply more rational methods of treating our forest areas. 



That for a time at least decrease of consumption is not likely to occur we may learn from a 

 comparison of figures of consumption from decade to decade, which indicate an increase of 30 per 

 cent or more. 



Estimates of value of forest products used in I860, 1810, 1880, and 1890. 



[Including all raw, partially manufactured, wholly manufactured wood.produets, fuel, and naval stores , estimated upon the basis of census 



figures, and other sources of information.] 



Articles. 



Mill products, rough and partly finished 



Cut on farms for home use 



In manufactures using wood 



Railroad building 



Fuel 



Total 



1860. 



$155, 000, 000 



45, 000, 000 



50, 000, 000 



6, 000, 000 



135, 000, 000 



a 391, 000, 000 



1870. 



$340, 000, 000 

 52, 000, 000 



100,000.000 

 14, 000, 000 



210, 000, 000 



716, 000, 000 



1880. 



$400, 000, 000 

 55, 000, 000 



110, 000, 000 

 30, 000, 000 



328, 000, 000 



923, 000, 000 



1890. 



$438, 000, 000 

 50, 000, 000 



150, 000, 000 

 40, 000, 000 



350, 000, 000 



1, 028, 000, 000 



a Probably 25 per cent underestimate. 



Considering the consumption in relation to the population, we find by comparison with other 

 nations of equally civilized conditions that, if our figures are approximately correct, our per 

 capita consumption is from eight to twenty times more than the per capita consumption of 

 Germany, France, or England. For while we figure 350 cubic feet of all kinds for our people, 

 Germany uses 44, France 32, and England 15 cubic feet per capita. And if we exclude the more 

 uncertain firewood consumption and estimates of waste, and compare only the most important 

 part of the consumption, we find the relation not less striking; for while we consume nearly 

 80 cubic feet of log timber, equal to 50 cubic feet of sawed goods, or between 500 and 600 feet 

 B. M., per capita annually, Germany requires only 15 cubic feet of sawed material, or about 150 

 feet B. M.; France 8.3 cubic feet, and England, importing nearly all her wood materials, can get 

 along with one-quarter of our consumption. We see, then, that there is a wide margin for saving 

 in wood supplies by substituting iron and stone in our structures; by using preservative processes 

 with our railroad ties and other timbers; by using our wood materials with more discretion and 

 knowledge. 



Our enormous annual loss by fires, largely due to the many wooden structures, and giving rise 

 to a destruction of property estimated at $100,000,000, constitutes a drain on our forest supplies 

 which can be largely avoided. 



FOREST FIRES. 



Another cause of useless and wasteful decimation of forest supplies is occasioned by the 

 yearly conflagrations, which destroy not acres but square miles of standing timber and the young 

 growth, and even the soil, the fertility, an accumulation of centuries of decaying leaf mold. 



Eegarding the loss by fire no adequate conception can be formed. Fires are of such general 

 occurrence that only the larger conflagrations are noticed, and it is difficult to obtain reports as to 

 their extent and destructiveness. 



In the South the foolish custom of annually burning off the old grass in order to gain a fort- 

 night's earlier pasturage still prevails and gives rise to widespread destruction, which is increased 

 by the coniferous composition of the larger part of these areas and the additional danger occasioned 

 by turpentine orchards. In the West carelessness of campers seems to be the principal cause of 

 fires, which, owing to the dryness of the climate and absence of population interested in stopping 

 the conflagrations, assume frightful dimensions and often not only destroy square miles of timber, 

 but endanger the lives and property of settlers. 



