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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



duce even more. While a portion of our 

 forests, confined to the North and to the 

 Rocky Mountains, is naturally of slow 

 growth, the bulk of the forests is in the 

 regions extremely favorable to tree 

 growth, as in the Southern Appalachians 

 and on the Pacific coast. They are 

 stocked, on the whole, with very fast 

 growing species, capable of attaining 

 enormous dimensions, and are still grow- 

 ing on a virgin soil possessing wonderful 

 productive power. Under such condi- 

 tions the annual growth per acre in our 

 forests can easily be increased to two or 

 even three times the present growth 

 within a comparatively short time. 



With the per capita consumption re- 

 duced to 150 cubic feet and an annual 

 growth per acre of only 50 cubic feet, 

 the 450,000,000 acres upon which we 

 shall have to depend for our timber will 

 "be capable of supplying- the needs of a 

 population of 150,000,000 people. 



That this is entirely within the bounds 

 of realization is well shown in the case 

 of the hardwood supply in the Southern 

 Appalachian Mountains. Studies by the 

 Eorest Service in the Cumberland Moun- 

 tains of eastern Tennessee showed that 

 under protection these woods are capable 

 of producing even at present an average 

 of 50 cubic feet annually. Taking the 

 annual production at only 40 cubic feet, 

 this would mean that the 75,000,000 acres 

 of absolute forest land embraced in the 

 Appalachian region would produce 

 3,000,000,000 cubic feet annually, which 

 represents practically the total hardwood 

 cut in the country. What is true of the 

 hardwoods is also true of the softwoods 

 in the Rockies, in the Pacific coast moun- 

 tains, and in the Northeast. 



The sooner we realize as a nation that 

 the forest land in this country will have 

 to be reduced in order to make room for 

 agricultural crops and that our only sal- 

 vation as regards the timber supply lies 

 in increasing the productiveness of our 

 forest land and eliminating all possible 

 waste, the sooner we shall solve the prob- 

 lem of the source of the future timber 

 supply. From a national economic point 

 of view, it is an enormous waste to allow 

 550,000,000 acres of burnt- over and neg- 

 lected land to go on producing an amount 



which, under proper forest management, 

 could be produced by an area half as 

 large, and thus preventing the other half 

 from being used for some other purpose. 



What is true of the forest as a source 

 of timber is also true of the forest as a 

 protective cover. The influence of the 

 forest on the climate and the flow of water 

 in streams depends not merely on its ex- 

 tent, but chiefly on its condition. A vast 

 forest area repeatedly burned, with the 

 humus cover destroyed, has not as much 

 value as a smaller forest area fully 

 stocked with rich vegetable mold and the 

 soil in good condition. 



A CAREFUL CLASSIFICATION OF OUR LAND 

 IS REQUIRED 



It is the duty of the government to 

 help the people in adjusting the various 

 lands for the uses to which they are best 

 adapted by classifying them upon the 

 basis of their properties and the climatic 

 conditions. A thorough survey of the 

 lands in the United States with the view 

 of determining the best use to which the 

 various classes could be put would go a 

 long way toward bringing about the most 

 productive use of our greatest resource — 

 the land. In 1898 the Japanese govern- 

 ment appropriated about $13,000,000 for 

 the purpose of classifying the land within 

 the government forests into exclusively 

 forest land and land that could be used 

 for agriculture. 



Fortunately, the physiographic and cli- 

 matic conditions of our country are such 

 that, no matter how great the demand 

 for agricultural land may be in the fu- 

 ture, the area exclusively adapted to the 

 production of timber should, if properly 

 cared for, be large enough to supply all 

 of our needs for wood and to exercise 

 the protective function. 



It is, therefore, not by resisting the 

 inevitable economic progress of this coun- 

 try that we can best solve the serious 

 problem of providing for the future tim- 

 ber supply, but by looking the facts 

 squarely in the face and beginning im- 

 mediately to prepare ourselves for the 

 time when a reduced forest area will 

 have to meet an increasing demand for 

 timber. We must do it now, while it is 

 not too late. 



