ture and in use by the consumer. Twenty-two and one-half billion 
cubic feet is the amount of standing timber which must be cut from 
the forest to supply our needs. By closer utilization the same quan- 
tity of usable forest material can be obtained from a smaller quan- 
tity of standing timber. It is estimated that the elimination of all 
preventable waste by the industry and the public would reduce our 
annual drain upon the forest by 7 billion cubic feet. The use of 
lower grade logs which the lumberman is now obliged to leave in 
the woods, and of species of trees mistakenly considered inferior, 
will contribute enormously to our annual supply of forest products. 
The public have a large responsibility in careful utilization. 
To cite one example, if builders, architects, contractors would order 
a proportion of their lumber requirements in short lengths, instead 
of in long lengths which are later cut into short lengths on the job. 
it would effect large savings. 
I'he importance of closer utilization lies in the fact that it can 
be put into practice in a relatively short time. Already much has 
been done along these lines. Economic pressure, brought about 
largely through the greatly augmented values of standing timber, 
has already forced changes in utilization practice both in the woods 
and in the mills, especially in the older timber regions. 
The only permanent solution of our wood requirements and 
the land utilization problem, however, lies in forest growth. Much 
can be accomplished by supplemental measures, but the funda- 
mental solution of the problem lies in commercial forestry. 
Tne COMMUNITY AND FORESTRY 
Forests are essential to the community not only because they 
furnish essential wood products but also because they are a source 
of wealth production. 
In Figure 7 the present forest areas of each state are shown. 
[t is significant that in 11 states over half of the land area is more 
suited for forest growth than for any other purpose; and in 28 
states, 30 per cent or more of the land area is forest land. Of these 
28 states, 12 are north of the Potomac and Ohio rivers and east of 
the Great Plains, 13 are in the Southeast and three are in the West. 
Within a fifty mile radius of Pittsburgh, 32 per cent of the 
land is forest land. Around Chattanooga, 63 per cent; Albany, 
48 per cent; and about Springfield, Massachusetts, 5c per cent. 
251