Part 6 (1/2)
During the four years before the war our in countries as In 1918, imports exceeded exports by 100,000,000 board feet In addition to this luely from Canada, 1,370,000 cords of pulp wood, 596,000 tons of wood pulp, 516,000 tons of paper, and close to a billion shi+ngles Some of the material, such as wood pulp and paper, also came from Sweden, Norway, Gerdom
As a result of the war, European countries for several years can use 7,000,000,000 feet of lu construction, England needs 2,000,000,000 feet a year more than normally; France, 1,500,000,000 feet; Italy, 1,750,000,000 feet; Belgium and Spain 750,000,000 feet apiece Even before the war, there was a great deficiency of timber in parts of Europe It amounted to 16,000,000,000 board feet a year and was supplied by Russia, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Austria-Hungary and a few other countries of western Europe If we can regulate cutting and replenish our forests as they deserve, there is a ree and permanent export trade
[Illustration: YOUNG WHITE PINE SEEDED FROM ADJOINING PINE TREES]
The Central and South American countries now have to depend on Canada, the United States and Sweden for most of their softwoods
Unless they develop home forests by the practice of modern forestry, they will always be dependent on iypt are both heavy ie tropical forests but the tiet at and move China produces but little lu country japan grows only about enough timber to supply her home needs
Australia imports softwoods from the United States and Canada
New Zealand is in the las fir and hardwoods
In the past, our export lumber business has been second only to that of Russia in total aer than that of Russia because much of our tirades of rown in this country In the future, we shall have to compete in the softwood export business with Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the various states of southeastern Europe which sell lumber In the hardwood business, we have only a limited number of rivals With the exception of a small section of eastern Europe, our hardwood forests are the finest in the Temperate Zone We export hickory, black walnut, yellow poplar, white and red oak even to Russia and Sweden, countries that are our keenest rivals in the softwood export business
Europe wants export lumber from our eastern states because the transportation costs on such material are low She does not like to pay heavy costs of hauling timber from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic seaboard and then have it reshi+pped by water
Our eastern forests are practically exhausted Our supplies of export lu Most of the kinds of export tiht at home We have only about 258,000,000,000 feet of southern yellow pine left, yet this material composes one-half of our annual shi+p this material at the rate of 16,000,000,000 board feet a year Some authorities believe that our reserves will last only sixteen years unless measures to protect the long-leaf pine trees, our outputs of naval stores including turpentine and rosin are dwindling We cannot afford to increase our export of southern yellow pine unless reforestation is started on all land suitable for that purpose Our pine lands of the southern states must be restocked and made permanently productive Then they could maintain the turpentine industry, provide all the luer surplus for export
Although our supplies of Douglas fir, western white pine, sugar pine and western yellow pine are still large, they will have to bear an extra burden when all the southern pine is gone This indicates that the large supplies of these woods will not last as long as ould wish To prevent overtaxing their production, it is essential that part of the load be passed to the southern pine cut-over lands By proper protection and renewal of our forests, we can increase our production of lumber and still have a per our cut-over and waste lands froing on our rein forest land, we can produce annually at least 27,750,000,000 cubic feet of wood, including 70,000,000,000 board feet of sawtimber Such a production wouldpopulation, and still leave an amount of timber available for export
Our hardwoods need protection as well as our softwoods Ten per cent of our yearly cut of valuable white oak is shi+pped overseas
In addition we annually waste much of our best oak in the preparation of split staves for export At the present rate of cutting, the supply, it is said, will not last more than twenty-five years We shi+p abroad about seven per cent of our poplar lumber Our supplies of this material will be exhausted in about twenty years if the present rate of cutting continues We sell to foreign countries at least one-half of our cut of black walnut which will be exhausted in ten to twelve years unless present methods are reformed Our supplies of hickory, ash and bassill be used up in twenty to thirty years We need all this hardwood lumber for future domestic purposes However, the furniture factories of France, Spain and Italy are behind on orders They need hardwood andshi+pped to Europe
Experience has proved that correct syste the private forests can not be secured by estions or education No ordinary method of public cooperation has been worked out which produces the desired results It is necessary that suitable measures be adopted to induce private owners to preserve and protect their woodlands The tiainst forest fires Timber must be cut so as to aid natural reproduction of forest Cut-over lands must be reforested If such methods were practiced, and national, state and municipal forests were established and extended, our luely solve itself We not only should produce a large permanent supply of tireat reserves available for export Under such conditions, the United States would becoreatest supply source in the world for lumber
CHAPTER XV
WHY THE LUMBERMAN SHOULD PRACTICE FORESTRY
The lumber industry of this country can aid reforestation by practicing better methods It can harvest its annual crop of ti the future production of the forests It can li the woods in a safe condition after it has re out of cutting lu trees They are co trees that they cut down, in order that neth may develop to furnish future timber crops
The trouble in this country has been that the lumbermen have harvested the crop of the forests in the shortest possible ti period Most of our privately owned forests have been temporarily ruined by practices of this sort The aim of the ordinary lumberman is to fell the trees and reduce them to lumber with the least labor possible
He does not exercise special care as to how the tree is cut down
He pays little attention to the protection of young trees and neth He cuts the tree to fall in the direction that best serves his purpose, no iant will crush and seriously cripple e parts of the trunk in cutting He leaves the tops and chips and branches scattered over the ground to dry out They develop into a fire trap
As generally followed, the ordinary es the future production of the tirowth of the forest It does not provide for the proper growth and development of the future forest Our vast stretches of desolate and deserted cut-over lands are silent witnesses to the ruin which has been worked by the practice of destructive lue for the better is now developing With the last of our ti industry is co to see that it must prepare for the future
Consequently, operators are handling the woods better than ever before They now are trying to increase both the production and per forests They aihly and to extend their cuttings over many years They appreciate that it is necessary to protect and preserve the forest at the sa rerowth and for protecting the woodlands against fire If only these methods of forestry had been observed from the time the early settlers felled the first trees, not only would our forests be producing at present all the lureatest lu country in the world
[Illustration: WHAT SOME KINDS OF TIMBER CUTTING DO TO A FOREST]
It will never be possible to stop ti entirely in this country, nor would it be desirable to do so The de reat to permit of such a condition The Nation would suffer if all forest cutting was suspended There is a vital need, however, of perpetuating our re practices should be stopped Only trees that are ready for harvest should be felled They should be cut under conditions which will protect the best interests and production of the timberlands As a class, our lureedy than men in many other branches of business They have worked under peculiar conditions in the United States Our population was small as compared with our vast forest resources Conditions imposed in France and Germany, where the population is so dense that enerally practiced, were not always applicable in this country Furthermore, our lumbermen have known little about scientific forestry This science is comparatively new in Aes of their development As luradually are co to practice its principles