FORESTRY WORKERS OF LOUISIANA 

 Col. H. P. Gamble, Secretary Louisiana Conservation Commission (page 19) 



forest trees, on account of its great size, 

 peculiar habitat, and ancient lineage, 

 for it is a representative of a tvpe (^f 

 vegetation, abundant in prehistoric 

 times, but now only represented b\- the 

 bald cypress of our (uilf states and the 

 Mexican cypress. 



The wood is lielieved to be the ancient 

 gopher-wood of which the ark of Noah 

 was built, and pieces of timber of the 

 same w<xh1 removed from St. Peter's 

 Cathedral in Rome to give place to brass 

 columns were found to l^e in a state 

 of perfect ])reservation after having 

 been in place for more than i,ick3 years. 

 But our cypress, like our ])ine, is fast 



disappearing, and it will be a liard mat- 

 ter to replace this valuable tin"^ber. We 

 have many other valuable woods in our 

 state, such as gum, which can be used 

 for furniture, boxes, plow slides, barrel 

 headings, ceiling, and other inside uses. 

 Cottonwood is another timber which 

 has lately liecome very valuable and its 

 lumber is almost as much sought after, 

 in certain sections, for barrel material, 

 box wood, and other case purposes, as 

 the gum. .At one time in Louisiana our 

 Cottonwood was practically given away 

 by our planters to make room for cul- 

 tivation, but its numenius uses here 

 latel}- ha\'e made it very valuable, and 



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