20 
TIMBEE 
imported from Canada and the States, has disappeared 
from large districts, and although it still holds second place 
in the cut of United States timber, it is chiefly used for 
home consumption, the quantity brought into Great Britain 
being only one-fifth of what it was ; consequently this timber, 
formerly plentiful and cheap here, is now scarce and dear. 
Kauri, of New Zealand, which thirty years ago was the 
chief export from the island, will, according to the opinion 
of an expert, be extinct in a few years. 
Millions of acres are destroyed by fire yearly, and 
enormous waste and destruction of timber have gone on 
for many years in Canada and the United States, probably 
more than has been converted to useful purposes. 
The United States furnish as good an object lesson as 
one could have of the enormous quantity of timber used, 
and of how rapidly a country with enormous resources 
may be depleted, and it is unique in this respect, that its 
Forestry Department furnishes particulars which are not to 
be had elsewhere. 
Eapid as has been the increase of population in the 
United States, the timber consumption has been still more 
rapid. The increase of population from 1880 to 1900 was 
52 per cent., the increase of lumber cut was 94 per cent. 
The following are a few details of the annual consumption 
of wood taken from the United States statistics for 1905, 
which are only approximate, and the actual figures may be 
from 10 per cent, to even 25 per cent, more : — 
12,800,000,000 cubic feet used for fuel 
2,911,000,000 „ „ „ lumber. 
200,000,000 „ „ „ mine timbers. 
408,000,000 „ „ „ pulp. 
280,000,000 „ „ „ sleepers. 
128,000,000 „ „ „ tan bark. 
