+--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------------+ a Not separately reported. Oak, which in 1899 furnished over half the entire output, has fallen off 36.5%. Yellow poplar, which in 1899 was second among the hardwoods, has fallen off 38% and now occupies third place; and elm, the great stand-by in slack cooperage, has fallen 50.8%. On the other hand less valuable species like maple and red gum have advanced 39 and 59% respectively. The decrease is largely due to the fact that the hardwoods grow naturally on the better classes of soil, and in the eastern United States where the population has always been the densest, and as a consequence of this, a large proportion of the original hardwood land has been cleared up and put under cultivation. The hardwood supply of the future must be obtained chiefly from the Appalachian region, where the conditions are less favourable to agriculture. In addition to the lumber cut, enormous quantities of hardwoods are used each year for railroad ties, telephone and other poles, piles, fence posts and fuel, and there is a great amount of waste in the course of lumbering and manufacture. AUTHORITIES.--Sargent, _Silva of North America_ (Boston, 1891-1897), _Manual of Trees of North America_ (Boston, 1903); Lemmon, _Handbook of West American Cone-Bearers_ (San Francisco, 1895); Bruncken, _North American Forests and Forestry_ (New York, 1900); Fernow, _Economics of Forestry_ (New York, 1902); Pinchot, _The Adirondack Spruce_ (New York, 1898); Pinchot and Graves, _The White Pine_ (New York, 1896). See also the various publications of the U.S. forest service, including especially the following general works: _Forest Influences_; _Primer of Forestry_; the _Timber Supply of the United States_; the _Waning Hardwood Supply_; _Forest Products of the United States in 1906_; _Exports and Imports of Forest Products in 1906_; _Federal and State Forest Laws_; _Regulations and Instructions for the Use of the National Forests_; _The Use of the National Forests_; also part v. of the _Nineteenth and of the Twenty-first Annual Reports of the United States Geological Survey_, and vol. ix. of the _10th Census Report on the Forests of North America_; and _Reports_ of the State Forestry Commissions of New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, &c., and of the State Geological Surveys of New Jersey, Maryland and North Carolina. (G. P.) FOOTNOTES: [1] The United States fiscal year ends June 30, and receives its designation from the calendar year in which it terminates. Thus, the fiscal year 1898 is the year July 1, 1897-June 30, 1898. [2] Administration transferred to Bureau of Forestry, February 1, 1905. [3] Woods waste includes tops, stumps, cull logs and butts, but does not include defective trees left or trees used for road purposes. [4] Mill waste includes bark, kerf, slabs and edgings.