EXPORTATION OF FOREST PRODUCTS.

The following statistics are derived from the Reports of Commerce and Navigation, made annually by the Secretary of the Treasury, and embrace the principal facts upon this subject that have been published since the formation of the Federal Government, in 1789. It will be noticed that changes in the revenue laws and in the mode of classification have prevented uniformity in the headings; but the chronological arrangement is preserved, and it will be easy to follow the succession through the whole period. The returns are for fiscal years, which, at first, began on the ist day of October, but were changed so as to begin on the 1st of July in 1843, and after. The year "1842-43," therefore, includes but nine months. For a long period the exportation from collection districts was not reported separately; but from 1855-56 to the present time they may be traced continuously, except in 1865-266, when they were not reported, and except from 1861-'62 to 1863-64, when they. were in some instances reported collectively. Various attempts at condensation of headings have, from time to time, been adopted, causing irregularities in the tables that cannot now be avoided. In presenting these statistics, we shall first give general summaries; next, a classification by foreign countries, and, finally, so far as may be, the amount exported from collection districts, with such general statements as the subject will allow.

These statistics admit of classification under the following headings:

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF SUBJECTS.

LISTS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF COLLECTION-DISTRICTS.

I. GENERAL STATEMENTS AND COMPARISONS.

II. LUMBER: BOARDS, PLANK, AND SCANTLING, &C.

III. LATHS AND OTHER SMALL LUMBER.

IV. SHINGLES.

V. TIMBER, SHIP-TIMBER, &C.

VI. STAVES, HEADINGS, SHOOKS, AND COOPER WARES AND STOCK.
VII. FIRE WOOD.

VIII. BARKS.

IX. NAVAL STORES.

X. INCIDENTAL FOREST PRODUCIS.

XI. WOOD-MANUFACTURES.

XII. SHIP BUILDING.

A summary of the tables given under these headings will be presented at the beginning of each class.

COLLECTION DISTRICTS.

A series of statistics for the whole country would be imperfect without the means of understanding the subdivisions to which they relate. If they extend through a long period, there should also be the means of knowing the changes that have taken place, in order that we may be able to compare one period with another, and to make allowances due to changes occasioned by the creation of new districts, and by the changes made in the boundaries of old districts.

For this purpose, we have prepared the following tables of existing and of obsolete collection districts, which, although they do not indicate all the changes made from time to time by annexation or division of

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territory, will, however, serve a useful purpose by leading to more complete information as occasion may arise. A map of present collection districts, colored in strict conformity with the descriptions given in the statutes, would not cover the whole area, and the inland boundaries of districts would in many instances be vague and confused. The principal line of interest in this connection is that of the exterior boundary line of the country, and the navigable waters leading therefrom, and for a better understanding of these a concise description of the several collection districts of the country is hereunto subjoined.

It should further be borne in mind that these collection districts, although in many cases with specific inland areas, are for all practical purposes nothing but the coasts and frontiers, and that the areas, as they would be indicated upon the map, have no reference whatever to the sources of supply from whence these forest products were derived.

The lumber and timber from Michigan, or the naval stores from the Carolinas, may find their way by inland routes of transportation a thousand miles or more to a place of export, and in like manner the imports of one district may be intended for consumption in another, according to the calls of supply and demand.

The statistics of a given collection district are therefore to be regarded chiefly as an indication of the condition and changes of commercial markets, and the facilities for navigation that they afford. But as timber and lumber are heavy and bulky commodities, their transportation except by floating is expensive, and their exportation in large quantities at a given point would usually lead to the inference that the region of supply could not be far from the inland waters that lead to this point. With the exception of remote regions in the interior, this inference is in the main generally true; and the advance in quantities exported at a given place may usually be regarded as the opening up of a lumbering interest in the interior, and its decline as a proof of the exhaustion of supplies.

Present Collection Districts of the United States-Continued.

Present Collection Districts of the United States-Continued.

Description of the present Collection Districts of the United States, in their order of succession; commencing at the northeastern point and following the coast and frontiers towards the right around to the place of beginning.

AROOSTOOK (Me.). County of Aroostook.

PASSAMAQUODDY (Me.). From Aroostook County, along Saint Croix River, and the coast to Moose Cove.

MACHIAS (Me.). From Moose Cove to line between Hancock and Washington Counties.

FRENCHMAN'S BAY (Me.). From east line of Hancock County to a line running from the southerly point of Newbury Neck through Blue Hill Bay to the eastward of Tinker's Island, Pond Island, Swan Island, and Long Island to the Atlantic.

CASTINE (Me.). From Frenchman's Bay district and around to include shores of Hancock County, on Isle au Haut Bay, Penobscot Bay, and Penobscot River.

BANGOR (Me.). Counties of Penobscot and Piscataquis, and the town of Frankfort, in Waldo County [embraces a part of northern frontier of Maine].

BELFAST (Me.). From south line of Frankfort to south line of Camden, with islands of Isleborough, North Haven, and Vinal Haven. WALDOBOROUGH (Me.). From middle of Damariscotta River to south line of town of Northport.

WISCASSET (Me.). Towns of Wiscasset and Booth Bay.

BATH (Me.). Towns of Bath, Brunswick, Georgetown, Hallowell, Pittston, and Topsham [understood to include the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers and their tributaries, and to extend to northern frontier of State].

PORTLAND AND FALMOUTH (Me.). Portland, Falmouth, North Yarmouth, Brunswick, Freeport, and Harpswell.

SACO (Me.). From Cape Elizabeth to the line between Kennebunkport and Biddeford.

KENNEBUNK (Me.). Towns of Wells and Arundel.
YORK (Me.). Town of York.

PORTSMOUTH (Me. and N. H.). Towns of Berwick and Kittery, Me., and the State of New Hampshire.

NEWBURYPORT (Mass.). From New Hampshire to south line of Ipswich. GLOUCESTER (Mass.). From south line of Ipswich to south line of Manchester.

SALEM AND BEVERLY (Mass.). Towns of Beverly, Danvers, and Salem. MARBLEHEAD (Mass.). Towns of Marblehead and Lynn.

BOSTON AND CHARLESTOWN (Mass.). Counties of Middlesex, Norfolk, and Suffolk.

PLYMOUTH (Mass.). County of Plymouth, eastern shore.
BARNSTABLE (Mass.). County of Barnstable.

NEW BEDFORD (Mass.). Shores of Bristol and Plymouth on Buzzard's
Bay and Atlantic; also islands in Bristol County.

NANTUCKET (Mass.). County of Nantucket.

EDGARTOWN (Mass.). Dukes County.

FALL RIVER (Mass. and R. I.). Shores of Massachusetts on Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay, and north part of Tiverton, R. I. PROVIDENCE (R. I.). Part of State north of south line of Kent County

and of northwest line of Bristol, bordering on Greenwich Bay, Providence Bay, and Providence River, to head of navigation. BRISTOL AND WARREN (R. I.). Towns of Bristol, Warren, and Barrington; also Providence Plantations and shores within a line beginning at middle of bay between Mount Hope and CommonFence Point, thence running southwest through middle of Bristol Ferry, and till it strikes a point equidistant from Rhode Island and Prudence Island, and thence to west shore of Bullock's Point. NEWPORT (R. I.). From east line of Westerly to south line of Kent; also towns, harbors, and landing places of Jamestown, Hope and Rhode Islands, and islands adjacent, except Prudence Island.

STONINGTON (R. I. and Conn.). From Mystic River (west line), to east line of Pawcatuck River, including town of Westerly, R. I.

NEW LONDON (Conn.). From west line of Mystic River to west line of Lynn.

MIDDLETOWN (Conn.). Shores of Connecticut River from its mouth to head of navigation, and to west line of Middlesex County.

NEW HAVEN (Conn.). From Middlesex County to Housatonic River. FAIRFIELD (Conn.). From Housatonic River to west line of Connecticut. SAG HARBOR (N. Y.). From Oyster Pond Point [Orient Point] to Montank Point.

NEW YORK (N. Y. and N. J.). All of State of New York not in any other district, and that part of New Jersey within Hudson and Bergen Counties. [This includes all of the northern and southern shores of Long Island; all of Staten Island, the parts bordering on Long Island Sound, and on Hudson River, in New York, and from Jersey City, inclusive, northward to State line, on the eastern shore of New Jersey.]

NEWARK (N. J.). North shore of Kill von Kull and waters around to north line of Rahway.

PERTH AMBOY (N. J.). From north line of Rahway southward to Barnegat Inlet.

LITTLE EGG HARBOR (N. J.). From Barnegat Inlet to Brigantine Inlet. GREAT EGG HARBOR (N. J.). From Brigantine Inlet to Cape May. BRIDGETON (N. J.). From Cape May northward on Delaware Bay within the counties of Cape May, Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland. BURLINGTON (N. J.). Northward from Gloucester County along Delaware River, except the town of Camden.