The Land We Live in: The Boys' Book of ConservationSmall, Maynard, 1911 - 242 pages |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American bank beautiful board feet build burned bushels cabin cars coal mines Copyright corn cost cowboy crops dams deer Dimock donkey engine Douglas fir Europe farm farmer fields fifty fight forest fires Forest Service George Shiras Gifford Pinchot Government graze green ground grow herd horses hundred feet hunting Indians irrigation journey killed kind land less little roe little trees live log loader logs look lumber lumbermen means miles mill million acres million dollars minerals moose mountains National Forests nearly Photo by Julian pine pipe line prairie dogs produce Public Domain railroad range ranger Reclamation Service rich river roads roe deer seen settlers ship side soil spruce square miles standing story streams stretches stumps tell Thenon things thousand timber to-day towns trail train turpentine United valley waste water power wild wind wood yield
Popular passages
Page 232 - By reasonable thrift, we can produce a constant timber supply beyond our present need, and with it conserve the usefulness of our streams for irrigation, water supply, navigation, and power. Under right management, our forests will yield over four times as much as now.
Page 232 - We shall suffer for timber to meet our needs, until our forests have had time to grow again. But if we act vigorously and at once, we shall escape permanent timber scarcity.
Page 231 - We take from our forests each year, not counting the loss by fire, three and a half times their yearly growth. We take 40 cubic feet per acre for each 12 cubic feet grown; we take 260 cubic feet per capita, while Germany uses 37 and France 25 cubic feet.
Page 229 - We have 200,000,000 acres of mature forests, in which yearly growth is balanced by decay ; 250,000,000 acres partly cut over or burned over, but restocking naturally with enough young growth to produce a merchantable crop; and 100,000,000 acres cut over and burned over, upon which young growth is either wholly lacking or too scanty to make merchantable timber.
Page 229 - Forestry is now practiced on 70 per cent of the forests publicly owned and on less than i per cent of the forests privately owned, or on only 18 per cent of the total area of forests. The yearly growth of wood in our forests does not average more than 12 cubic feet per acre. This gives a total yearly growth of less than 7,000,000,000 cubic feet.
Page 232 - To protect our farms from wind and to reforest land best suited for forest growth will require tree planting on an area larger than Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia combined. Lands so far successfully planted make a total area smaller than Rhode Island ; and year by year, through careless cutting and fires, we lower the capacity of existing forests to produce their like again, or else totally destroy them. In spite of substitutes we shall always need much wood. So far our use of it has steadily...
Page 193 - While the utilization of water power ranks among our most recent and most rapid industrial developments, little effort has been made to control catchment areas or storm waters in any large way for power development...
Page 229 - WHAT IS PRODUCED. The yearly growth of wood in our forests does not average more than 12 cubic feet per acre. This gives a total yearly growth of less than 7,000,000,000 cubic feet. Nearly all our native commercial trees grow much faster than those of Europe. We already grow post timber in twenty to thirty years, mine timber in twenty-five to thirty-five years, tie timber in thirty-five to forty years, and saw timber in thirty to seventy-five years. We have 200,000,000 acres of mature forests, in...
Page 232 - ... or else totally destroy them. In spite of substitutes we shall always need much wood. So far our use of it has steadily increased. The condition of the world's supply of timber makes us already dependent upon what we produce. We send out of our country one and a half times as much timber as we bring in. Except for finishing woods, relatively small in amount, we must grow our own supply or go without. Until we pay for our lumber what it costs to grow it, as well as what it costs to log and saw,...
Page 231 - The boxing of longleaf pine for turpentine has destroyed one-fifth of the forests worked. The loss in the mill is from one-third to two-thirds of the timber sawed. The loss in the mill product through seasoning and fitting for use is from one-seventh to one-fourth. Great damage is done by insects to forests and forest products.