{40 
Modern Business Geography 
care. Fire losses are small, and waste in lumbering, at the sawmills, 
and in the wood-using industries is slight. Refuse wood that 
would be thrown away in our country is there made into small objects, 
such as clothespins and toys. Rarely are all the trees cut from an 
area at once, as with us. Since only the larger trees are cut, the 
forest lands always bear an abundance of valuable trees that are 
rapidly growing. Forest pests are fought successfully, and tree 
cutting is regulated by law. 
The method of caring for trees so as to conserve the supply is 
called scientific forestry in distinction from wasteful lumbering, such 
as has been practiced in our country nearly up to the present. In 
America scientific forestry is as yet practiced only in our National 
Forests and in a few other forest regions; but people in general are 
coming to see its advantages. Great Britain is practicing excellent 
methods of forestry in many of her colonies, especially in India. 
The more remote parts of Norway, Sweden, and north central 
Russia still contain a great deal of timber. Scotch pine and spruce 
predominate there. These are among the most valuable forests in 
the world today, chiefly because they are so near the great European 
markets. Some paper pulp from this region is exported to the 
United, States, but this circumstance does not mean that Europe has 
a supply of wood sufficient for her own use. Even though lumber is 
very little used for house building — stone or brick being the mate- 
rial most used — a great deal of wood is imported from the United 
States and Canada. In the future Europe may use the vast forests 
of Siberia, although there the trees as a rule are rather small. 
Tropical forests. Both Europe and the United States draw ex- 
tensively upon tropical regions for certain woods, such as mahogany 
for expensive furniture, quebracho for its sap, which is used in tan- 
ning leather, teak for ship building, and bamboo for a multitude of 
purposes. But lumbering in the tropics is slow and expensive; 
the wood is usually so hard that it is difficult to fell the logs and cut 
them up, and transportation is difficult. Consequently only a few of 
the hardwoods of the tropics have been exploited. Nevertheless, the 
abundant forests in the well-watered tropical regions may soon be 
ased to take the place of those that are now being exhausted in the 
temperate zone. But tropical wood, as a rule, is so hard that it can- 
not readily take the place of our convenient soft woods.