The Evils of Deforestation.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 20, 19 May 1909, Page 20

The Evils of Deforestation.

in. By .1. P. (;R< o-M AXX. M.A.. Direct.T "t Sei of Commerce. A.U.C.) What It Means To Us. ¥< i r.-ali-v what thi- coming timber famine may mean to the world at large, we have only to consider the c untie-. -I'. - t.. which timber is now applied. "In almost every undertaking. great or small.” Mr. J. H. Y-.ting reminds ns. "timber plays a more or less conspicuous part, and for numerous industries it is quite impossible to supplant it with any other sub-tan e. Th. u-.in i- of tons ...e swjl-

lowed up every years tor pit-props in mines: railway sleepers constitute a demand that must run up a big bill per annum, not to mention the many other uses for which wood is absolutely essential in the equipment and working of railways: while everybody, of course, knows that for the building trades timber is the base of their existence/’ Am..ng the many by-products of the forests we may mention paving-block-. dye-stuffs, tanning material, which all represent a heavy drain upon our resources : while for resin and turpentine immense quantities of trees arc annually destroyed. But tremendous as is the exn thest ses, s far short of • en rn us amount utilised every year in the manufacture of

paper. “The United State*- alone use S.ooOjmhi tons of wood annually fur thipurpose: over Jjmmi.immi tons are by Germany. I.immi.oiml t’»ns bv Canada, over tun- by Sweden. 200,000 tun- by Ku--ia. while Britain’- bii! fur 1 pulp in 1008 was very little short of f 3.UOO.OOO.” An ingeniou- American

ha- figured out that a big paper like the “Chicago Tribune” uses 200.0001bs of paper each Sunday, and 400,0001b§. for the week—in other words about 40 acres of furu-t for one week’- work. Perhaps this fact is enough to give some faint idea of the constant depredations that rogress i-ation makes in this direction upon the resources of Nature. The Case of America. It is important to observe that we are gradually creating

a condition of thing- that has never been paralleled since the tir-t advent of human life on this planet. Marsh and other distinguished authorities have pointed out that all the available evidence indicates that the habitable earth was originally covered by dense forest-, in almost every portion. The in-

roads made by man upon the natural bush were at first of slight importance, and easily repaired; and it is onh within comparatively modern times that the accumulated effects of his reckless destruction of the forests has begun to produce any pronounced diminution of tile available timber supply. But with the great industrial and commercial changes, and the marvellous improvements in transport facilities that marked the course of the last century, the ravages of Man have t<»ld wita ever-growing rapidity upon the forests, and the rate of destruction increases every year. Nowhere in the world are these important facts so c'earlv eviden< ?d as in America, once regarded as an absolutely inexhaustible source of -upply. But if the Americans themselves estimate the position accurately, they will -oun have too little timber on hand to -upply their own immediate needs. “We have reaped our forests.” -ays Mr E. Hough in the article I have already cited on “The Slaughter of the Trees; “we have reaped our forests as sheep reap the gras- land-, leaving nothing behind to grow. We have used ever-increasing appliance- for -peed and thoroughness to supply an ever increasing demand at an ever-increasing price. We are converging in ever-increasing number- with an everincreasing zeal upon what i- left: and in our haste to get it all. we are permitting an ever-increasing waste and ruin of the original supply.” The falling-off in the reserve -lock of timber is plainly indicated by the constant inclusion of forest tree- once deemed worthless in the list of industrial woods. Among American hardwoods are now classified beech, sycamore. gums, “anything that will saw into a board.” On the Pacific coast only the fine-t redwood was first cut. then the Douglas fir or Oregon pine, now the hemlock, cedar, “anything that will hold a -aw blade.” In seven years, it is said, the production of hardwoods in America has fallen off 15 per cent.: and according to Mr Hough, “it will take ii- li» years to use up all the rest of our hardwood if we do not burn it and if the demand remain- the same.” Unfortunately. the one thing certain is that the demand will increase. Moreover, it

is almost equally certain that much of the existing supply will be destroyed by tire. "Of all the timber now left standing in America to represent our entire future supply, the lumberman will use

less than one-half. The other half will never be taken out of the woods at all. Three-fourths of that half may never be cut. but may be set on fire and burned

as it stands." There are about 450.000. 000 acres of commerieal timber left in the United States, bearing about 2.000.000.000.000 feet of mark table woods But experts say that the yellow pine will last hardly 15 years at the present rate of consumption, and that the Douglas fir or Oregon pine will not stand more than 25 to 30 years of the present demand. In the whole United States more than 100.000 acres of timber are cut over every working day: and taking into account the losses occasioned by fire, it is evident that unless something is done to retard the rate of consumption or to replenish the supply. America's stock of timber is rapidly nearing the point of absolute annihilation.