White Oak, quarter-sawed, 1st and 2d, all figured, 1" x 6" and up x 10'-16'.
Yellow poplar, 1st and 2d, 1" x 7"-17" x 12'-16'.
Hemlock, boards
Spruce, No. 1 and clear, 1" and 1¼" x 4" x 13'.
White pine, rough uppers, 1" x 8" and up x 00'.
Yellow pine, edge grain flooring. The curve is approximately correct, for the standard of quality has been changed several times.
It is to be remembered, moreover, that as the timber in any region becomes scarcer, the minimum cutting limit is constantly lowered, and the standard of quality constantly depreciated. Poorer species and qualities and smaller sizes, which were once rejected, are now accepted in the market. For example, 6 inches is now a common cutting diameter for pine and spruce, whereas 12 inches was the minimum limit, and on the Pacific coast there is still nothing cut below 18 inches. This cutting of smaller sizes is largely due to the capacious maw of the pulp mill, which swallows even the poorest stuff. Altho the amount of wood used for paper pulp is small in comparison with the total lumber production, being about 5.4 per cent., yet this cutting of young growth keeps the forest land devastated. In 1906 nearly 9,000,000 tons of wood were used for paper pulp in the United States.
No one who is at all familiar with the situation doubts for an instant that we are rapidly using up our forest capital. In fact it is unquestionably safe to say that our present annual consumption of wood in all forms is from three to four times as great as the annual increment of our forests. Even by accepting the highest estimate of the amount of timber standing we postpone for only a few years the time when there must be a great curtailment in the use of wood, if the present methods of forest exploitation are continued. Every indication points to the fact that under present conditions the maximum annual yield of forest products for the country as a whole has been reached, and that in a comparatively short time, there will be a marked decrease in the total output, as there is now in several items. (Kellogg, Forestry Circular, No. 97, p. 12.)
On the other hand, it is to be remembered that there are influences which tend to save and extend the forest area. These will be considered in the next chapter, on the Use of the Forest.