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The Lewistown Narrows.

ENNSYLVANIA does not lack mountain scenery, though it has nothing to compare with the stupendous ranges of the West. Indeed without disparagement to our State we may admit that in mountain scenery it even suffers by comparison with New Hampshire and Vermont, to say nothing of some States to the south of us. Yet it must be allowed that we have mountain regions grand enough to awaken State pride and to invite tourists and sightseers from any part of the Union. Some of these are easily accessible, even tempting to the outers of today. For example the region of the Susquehanna and the Juniata, through which what is now known as the William Penn Highway runs. In addition to its most attractive scenery, it is historic ground. A route over part of which civilization marched westward before the adoption of our Federal Constitution. The Lewistown Narrows and the Jack's Narrows are clefts in the mountain ranges which allowed passage for three stages of travel.

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1. The turnpike over which the Conestoga wagons with their orchestra of bells" toiled slowly transporting (at now fabulous cost) the products of the East and West.

"Ye knew him well, ye mountain-miles, Throughout your numerous dark defiles; Where Juniata leaps away

On feathery wings of foam and spray.'

2. The canal from Philadelphia (via Chesapeake Bay) by Columbia to Hollidaysburg, whence "section boats' were placed on cars and portaged across the Alleghenies for the West.

without wrong to anyone, such locations for the public good and the time to do so is now. Such a haven of health and rest should never, with the new vision we have of coming events, be allowed to become the exclusive holding of any one, or of any club. J. T. R.

Timber Depletion in the United States.

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HE Forest Service, in response to a resolution of the U. S. Senate, has prepared a valuable report entitled, "Timber Depletion, Lumber Prices, Lumber Exports and Concentration of Timber Ownership," of which the following brief summary is given except that portion relating to Pennsylvania which is in extenso.

The original forests of the United States are estimated to have covered 822 million acres and to have contained 5,200 billion board feet of timber. Over two-thirds of this area has been culled, cut-over, or burned. There are left today about 137 million acres of virgin timber, 112 million acres of culled and second-growth timber large enough for sawing, 133 million acres partially stocked with smaller growth, and 81 million acres of devastated and practically waste land. We have 463 million acres of forest land of all sorts which contains about 2,214 billion feet of timber of merchantable sizes. Three-fifths of the timber originally in the United States is gone.

The cutting and loss of merchantable timber consume about 56 billion board feet yearly. About 40 billion feet of this amount is cut from the virgin forests still left, the rest from second growth. We are even cutting into pulpwood, acid wood, and fuel, 14 billion cubic feet per year of material too small for sawing. All told, we are taking about 26 billion cubic feet of material out of our forests every year and growing about 6 billion feet in them. We are cutting more of every class of timber than we are growing. We are even using up the trees too small for the sawmill but upon which our future lumber sup

The mountains are rugged enough to test the energies of even a hardened climber. The river invites fishing and canoeing, and from the slopes of the mountain numerous strong springs of the purest water break forth.

We must recognize the fact that such outing, camping grounds are in the public mind. They are part of the new world that events (more than persons) are creating. The State Forestry Department now has ample power to commandeer.

they are being produced.

Our annual wood bill includes 40 billion feet of lumber, 87 million hewed railroad ties, nearly 52 million cords of pulpwood, a third of which is imported, and 110 million cords of fuel.

Even with large allowances for the substitution of other materials, the United States will require at least 35 billion feet of lumber yearly, aside from enormous quantities of wood pulp and other products of the forest.

The crux of timber depletion is the exhaustion,

or partial exhaustion, of the forests most available to the great bulk of our population, agriculture, and manufactures. One timbered region after another in the Eastern States has been cut out. Less than 5 per cent. of the virgin forests of New England and but 12 per cent. of her original stand of timber are left. New York now manufactures only 30 board feet per capita yearly, or not more than a tenth of the requirements of her own population and industries.

The forest history of Pennsylvania has been similar to that of New York. Once practically covered with a heavy timber stand, Pennsylvania for many years exported large quantities of lumber. In 1860 it stood first among the States in lumber production. As early as 1870, however, the stand of white pine, the most valuable species in the State and formerly one of its principal export woods, had diminished to such an extent that imports from Michigan began. The depletion of the white pine was followed by an increasing cut of hemlock and later of hardwoods, and the State reached its maximum lumber production of 2,440 million board feet in 1889. Today it occupies twentieth place in lumber production, and its annual cut of 530 million board feet constitutes less than 2 per cent. of the cut of the country.

The present forest area of Pennsylvania is estimated at approximately 12,000,000 acres, with a stand of 11 billion board feet of timber. Of this 70 per cent. is hardwoods, chiefly oak, chestnut, and northern hardwoods, and 30 per cent. softwoods, one-half hemlock. In addition to the stand of material suitable for the manufacture of lumber, it is estimated that there are 380,000,000 cubic feet of wood suitable for railroad ties and mine props. The total stand, including fuel wood, is 5,200 million cubic feet."

Depletion in Pennsylvania has already progressed so far that the complete cessation of large-scale logging operations, of which only a few are now left, may be anticipated within a decade. It has reached a point where the annual lumber production is only 60 board feet per capita, or about one-fifth of the average per capita consumption for the United States. The Pittsburgh district alone uses more lumber than is cut in the whole State. Williamsport, which once had an annual output of 300,000,000 board feet of lumber, now has not a single sawmill. In those parts of the State where the forest constituted the sole resource the trail of the lumber industry is marked by abandoned mills and practically deserted villages.

*Equivalent to about 16,600 million board feet.

The steady decrease in the amount of standing timber has been accompanied by a deterioration in quality. Virgin stands are practically gone, old-growth white pine, for example, being reduced to some 10,000 acres, practically all in a single tract which will be cut out in the next five years. Only about 50 per cent. of the total volume of wood now standing is suitable for manufacture either as lumber, pulp wood, ties, or props. The average area burned over annually is 500,000 acres, and much of this has been burned over again and again. In addition to the damage from reckless cutting and fires the State has suffered severely from the chestnut bark disease. Nearly one-seventh of the entire State, once richly wooded, is said to be practically barren. Several counties that were once rich in forest and prosperous are now almost bankrupt because the timber is gone.

The original pine forests of the Lake States, estimated at 350 billion feet, are now reduced to less than 8 billion.

The virgin pine forests of the South are estimated to have contained 650 billion feet of timber; they now contain 139 billion feet aside from considerable quantities of second growth. The cut of southern pine is falling off and within another decade promises to exceed by little, if at all, the requirements of the Southern States themselves.

One-half of the timber remaining in the continental United States is in three States bordering the Pacific Ocean. Sixty-one per cent. of it lies west of the Great Plains. Since 1894 western timber has been filling gaps in the Eastern and Middle Western markets. Within the past year it has assumed a dominating place in the principal markets of the Lake States and has largely replaced southern pine at many consuming points in the Central States. An experienced lumberman has estimated that within the next decade the shortage of nearer timber will compel the Eastern and Central States to increase their annual consumption of western lumber by 11% billion board feet.

The true index of timber depletion is not quantity but availability.

The wholesale prices on upper grades of softwood lumber in New York prior to 1865 were from $20 to $25 per thousand feet. The supply then came from mills in the same State or Pennsylvania. A level of from $35 to $45 marked a period of 30 years or more prior to 1917 when most of the lumber came from the Lake States or the South. The abnormal conditions of 1919 initiated a new level of about $130 per thousand

feet, with a considerable part of the material coming from the Pacific coast.

Our remaining timber is so localized that its availability to the average user of wood, and, therefore, its national utility, is greatly reduced.

The concentration of timber ownership has not changed materially since the exhaustive report made upon this subject by the Bureau of Corporations in 1910. One-half of the privately owned timber in the United States is held by approximately 250 large owners, the ownership of the remaining timber being very widely disThe tendency toward the acquisition and speculative holding of timber beyond operating requirements has been checked and the present tendency is toward manufacture in connection with large timber holdings.

The depletion of timber in the United States has not resulted primarily from the use of our forests, but from their devastation. The kernel of the problem lies in the enormous areas of forest land which are not producing the timber crops that they should. There are 326 million acres of cut-over timber lands bearing no saw timber. Their condition ranges from complete devastation through various stages of partial restocking or restocking with trees of inferior quality, to relatively limited areas which are producing timber at or near their full capacity. On 81 million acres there is practically no forest growth. This is the result of forest fires and of methods of cutting which destroy or prevent new timber growth. There were 27,000 recorded forest fires in 1919, burning a total of 84 million acres. During the preceding year, 25,000 fires burned over 101⁄2 million acres of forest land. An additional large acreage was burned each year, of which no record could be obtained.

The area of idle or largely idle land is being increased by from 3 to 4 million acres annually as the cutting and burning of forests continue. The enormous area of forest land in the United States not required for any other economic use, estimated at 463 million acres, would provide an ample supply of wood if it were kept productive. Depletion has resulted, not from using our timber resources, but from failure to use our timbergrowing land.

A remedy for this appalling waste must be found in a concerted effort to stop the devastation of our remaining forests and to put our idle forest lands at work growing timber. It is inconceivable that the United States should forfeit the economic advantage of its enormous timbergrowing resources, and that it should go on using up its forests with no provision for growing more

until wood products are priced on the basis of imported luxuries and their use is restricted to the lowest possible scale of civilized existence. The concerted action necessary to put an end to forest devastation must enlist the National Government, the respective States, and the land

owner.

It is impracticable to nationalize all of the forest land in the country or even the major portion of it. On the other hand, the results needed can not be attained if timber production is left to the initiative of the private owner of lands or is sought solely through compulsory regulation of private lands.

On the other hand, the public can not and should not do it all. A measure of responsibility rests upon the landowner, and should be recognized in equitable requirements as to the handling of his land. It is a case of the public and the private owner alike doing their part. Our policy must aim toward timber production on somewhat the same footing as in France or Scandinavia-as an established national practice. This calls for a core of public forests, public instruction and example, public encouragement in protection and taxation, and a responsibility recognized by forest owners to keep their lands productive.

In closing, suggestions are made in regard to appropriate national and state legislation needed. The report is a splendid resume of the present timber condition and future outlook of the United States and can be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

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Forestry in British Columbia.

SPECIAL report to the Imperial Forestry Conference held in London in July, 1920, from which interesting figures have been taken as follows:

There are in British Columbia five climatic belts and 21 forest types. Commercially the important belts are the Coast, the Interior Dry Belt and the Interior Wet Belt. The important types are those of the valleys and lower slopes which include Douglas fir, red cedar, western hemlock, yellow pine, the spruces, the balsam firs, western larch and lodgepole pine.

The forest land is given as 149,344 square miles, of which 52,000 square miles is estimated to be timber land and 97,000 square miles is young forest in various stages of restocking and growth. Of the timber land 22,000 to 27,000 square miles can at present be classed as inaccessible. Of this area 14,700 square miles are tem

porarily or partially alienated from the government by means of leases, licenses, sales and berths, and 115,000 square miles are unalienated. Thus the State owns a total of 129,700 square miles, or 87 per cent. of the total forest land.

Of the standing timber, however, the Crown owns but 7,500,000,000 cubic feet, while private interests have 21,750,000,000 cubic feet. In addition there is an estimated total of 1,250,000,000 cubic feet of piling, poles and pulpwood, ownership of which is probably in similar proportion. The estimated income in 1920 from government forest land is $4,109,000, while the expenditures will be $775,910. The average annual growth of young forest is estimated at about 8 cubic feet per acre, which, on the total forested area, would amount to 796,500,000 cubic feet annually, while the loss by fire is 25,000,000 cubic feet, and from waste, decay, etc., 277,330,000 cubic feet, leaving a net annual increment of 494,167,000 cubic feet. The utilization in 1919 was 149,515,737 cubic feet, the value being given at $70,285,094.

In closing an estimate is made of the standing timber of North America, not including Mexico and Central America, as follows:

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HE Committee on Forest Conservation of the American Paper and Pulp Association asks for both State and National legislation. The former proposes the enactment of measures which foresters have been urging for years, while the latter demands an initial but gradually increasing annual Federal appropriation amounting to six million dollars to be used for the following purposes:

1. Co-operation with States for forest protection, care and management and the distribution of forest planting material.

2. Classification of National Forest lands and co-operation with States in classification of private forest lands.

3. The continued acquisition of forest lands on the watersheds of navigable streams in New England, the Southern Appalachians and other suitable regions.

4. Enlarging the National Forests by exchange of timber for land.

5. Replanting devastated areas in the National Forests.

6. Continuous research and investigation in the utilization of forest resources and products.

7. The extension of the Federal Farm Loan Act to include loans for the purchase or improvement of cut-over or immature forest lands, or for holding, protecting and reforesting such lands.

"These recommendations," the report asserts, "cannot be criticized on the basis of the expense involved. They are exceedingly moderate in view of the magnitude of the problem to be solved, and represent true economy in the treatment of a basic national resource.

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ORESTS, WOODS AND TREES IN RELATION TO HYGIENE.--By Augustine Henry, Professor of Forestry, Royal College of Science, Dublin; 8 vo.; 314 pages; illustrated; bound in cloth. E. P. Dutton & Company, 681 Fifth Avenue, New York. Price, $7.50.

In this book Prof. Henry has endeavored to interest the statesman, the engineer, physician, the forester and the layman in certain aspects of forests and trees.

The opening chapters describe the far-reaching influence of forests and trees on climate, flow of water, erosion of the soil, shelter from wind, purity of air and water, etc., which affect directly the health and comfort of man. The value of forest districts as sites for sanatoria and the history and utility of parks, open spaces, and trees in towns are discussed. The afforestation of coal pit mounds in the "Black Country" and other districts is shown to be of great interest.

The concluding chapters are devoted to a study of the reforestation of the water sheds from which the great centers of population obtain their water supplies. The work of planting suitable portions of these areas with the aid of discharged soldiers it is urged might be undertaken at once. This reforestation should be linked up with the general scheme of afforestation of the waste lands of Great Britain and Ireland.

The kind of trees suitable for the catchment basins are described, and detailed data given as to the individual areas used for water supplies.

The compulsory purchase of catchment areas which are not already owned by municipalities is also thought advisable.

Numerous illustrations and maps aid in an understanding of the subject.

THE

Pennsylvania State College

FOUR YEAR COURSE

IN FORESTRY.

A thorough and practical undergraduate A thorough and practical undergraduate course in technical forestry-preparing men for all lines of professional and applied forestry.

Special attention is paid to practical field work in surveying, mapping and forest measurements. One of the largest of the State Forest Reserves is within a short walk of the College. For information regarding entrance requirements, expenses, etc., address,

DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY,

STATE COLLEGE, PA.

FOREST LEAVES

THE OFFICIAL ORGAN

OF THE

Pennsylvania Forestry Association

The attention of the advertising public is called to the advantages we offer as a medium. Address, 1012 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

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HE object of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association shall be to secure and maintain a due proportion of forest area throughout the State; to disseminate information concerning the growth, protection and utilization of forests; to show the great evil resulting from forest destruction, in the decrease and unequal distribution of the available water supplies, the impoverishment of soil, the injury to vari

ous industries, and the change in the clilature of such laws, and the enforcement of mate; to secure the enactment by the legisthe same, as shall tend to increase and pre

serve the forests of the State."

Enclosed find $...

FORM OF BEQUEST.

I give and bequeath to the Pennsylvania

Forestry Association the sum of..........