294 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



to the bed rock of actual experience. It was brought out 

 that the grazing on cut-over pine lands required from 

 seven to ten acres to support a cow through the season, 

 and that a feeding period of three months was necessary 

 Cattle turned out to rustle through the winter, after frost 

 had killed the grasses, frequently starved to death, and 

 at best made very slow growth. The South demands a 

 new standard of management for success in cattle feeding 

 and this new era will be ushered in by the use of the silo 

 and winter forage crops. The estimates of value placed 

 on grazing were from 15 to 25 cents per acre. 



The experience talks, by owners of cut-over lands, 

 formed the third great feature of this conference. The 

 most typical and enlightening of these was an impromptu 

 narrative by Mr. Alex K. Sessoms, President of the South 

 Georgia Land Owners' Association, representing about 

 2,000,000 acres of land. Finding himself in possession, by 

 inheritance, of some 70,000 acres of sandy land in South 

 Georgia, Mr. Sessoms told how he had discovered that the 

 neglected second-growth (Cuban or slash) pine was capable 

 of yielding a revenue from turpentining, which, under a 

 proper system of management, will yield a perpetual 

 income, sufficient to pay all the expense of taxation and 

 maintenance, and fiimish a large surplus for the agricul- 

 tural development of the remainder. By deep plowing 

 and proper use of fertilizers, the portion brought under 

 cultivation has been made very productive. As a result, 

 not only has he demonstrated to his neighbors that land 

 considered by them as worthless can be farmed, but he 

 has solved the problem of carrying charges, and no longer 

 desires to sell his land in order to get rid of a piece of 

 unprofitable property. 



In thus demonstrating on a large scale the possibility 

 of forest crops as a source of permanent revenue, and the 

 fundamental economic solution of the problem of carrying 

 cut-over lands, Mr. Sessoms has done far more for the 

 South than he realizes. The enormous possibilities of the 

 slash pine second growth on the belt of flat, sandy soils 

 bordering the Gulf is not yet appreciated. And in the use 

 of the revenue from this source to develop other portions 

 of his land for crop production, we have a wonderful 

 example of the proper economic relation between agricul- 

 ture and forestry in this region. 



But by far the most hopeful and insjnring plienomcnon 

 of this truly remarkable gathering was the candor and 

 honesty with which those southern land owners, mostly 

 lumbermen, discussed the problem of land values and col- 

 onization. Not once or twice, but many times, in each of 

 the three days' sessions it was clearly brought out that 

 the settlement and subjugation of these cut-over lands 

 was a difficult and fairly ex]:)ensive process, and that the 

 owner of these lands was morally bound to see that the 

 purchaser and immigrant succeeded in making a living. 

 Many speakers ])ointed out the great harm that had been 

 done in every Southern state by the oiJcrations of irre- 

 sponsible land spectilators, or unscrupulous land owners, 

 whose only thou.s^ht was to obtain as high a price as possible 

 for the lands, even though it left the puixhaser without 

 capital for their development. It was shown that the cost 

 of clearing, fencing and improvements, and the poverty 



and rawness of the soil, requiring two years or more to 

 bring to a condition of profitable production, prevented 

 the actual cconoinic value of these raw lands from reaching 

 a figure much in excess of $5 per acre. The great injury 

 done to the purchaser, and through him, to the South as a 

 whole, was most clearly and \agorously set forth by such 

 men as Dr. Bradford Knapp, Chief of the Office of Exten- 

 sion Work, States Relations Service, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agricultivre. Dr. Knapp denounced the process 

 of selling these cut -over lands at high prices to persons 

 unfamiliar with Southern conditions as highway robbery; 

 and he claimed that the advertisements of certain land- 

 selling agencies should be barred from the mails. It is 

 significant that these statements were greeted by pro- 

 longed applause from the owners of these millions of acres 

 of cut -over land who composed his audience. 



The comparative absence from the deliberations of the 

 convention of participation by the type of professional 

 booster, whose extravagant and optimistic literature is so 

 familiar to the would-be purchaser of lands, was a notice- 

 able feature of the gathering. Representatives of land- 

 selling and colonizing agencies were in attendance and one 

 or tW'O detennined efforts were made to stampede the con- 

 vention into some form of action wliich would furnish these 

 agencies with advertising capital to be used in booming 

 cut -over lands. But this element never at any time con- 

 trolled the proceedings or swayed the convention from its 

 purpose, which was to find out the facts, and to map out a 

 plan of organization and policy which sought, not the 

 temporary benefit of the land owner at the cost of misin- 

 formed purchasers, but, the permanent upbuilding of 

 stable commmiities of farmers on such of these lands as 

 have agricultural value. 



Tills convention marks a new era in the economic 

 thought not only of the South but of the entire country, — 

 and in this movement the South bids fair, under the guid- 

 ance of such men as attended this convention, to take the 

 leadership. This thought was summed up by General 

 L. C. Boyle, of Kansas City, who said : " Not a man to-day 

 has been talking about how much monc}" can be made from 

 a sale of these lands, but of how to help the little fellow. 

 This conference is giving evidence of the right spirit 

 ■ — the unselfish spirit of a vision^the spirit of coopera- 

 tion. Government cooperation with the people is the 

 order of the day. The men who ha\'e the vision, the 

 understanding and the sjjirit, whether state or national 

 experts, or private land owners, are bound to succeed. 

 The highest patriotism is to make the land habitable 

 for the poor and needy." 



A permanent committee of ten men, two from each of 

 the five states represented, was appointed, to perfect plans 

 for permanent organization. 



It is worthy of note that a paper prepared by Mr. 

 Henry S. Graves, Chief of the National Forest Service, 

 outlining the possibilities of utilizing much of this cut-over 

 land for second-growth forestry, received close attention, 

 and that the convention adopted a resolution looking to 

 the adoption of plans by which a comprehensive scheme of 

 reforestation may be undertaken, if found practicable. 



