306 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



choice and thrifty trees. Such thin 

 stands of second-growth pine, chestnut, 

 red oaks, yellow poplar, and c-ttoii- 

 wood will produce from S^iu to 1,000 

 board feet of merchantable tiu.'ber per 

 acre a year. It is desir-'-ble to defer 

 cutting young timber until the maxi- 

 mum yield per acre can be "secured. It 

 is equally as desirable to cut it before it 

 has become old and its rate of growth 

 has declined. 



MR. graves' address 



In opening the lumbermen's confer- 

 ence Mr. Graves made an address upon 

 the problems which are to be considered 

 in the South. He said: 



'"In any consideration of the indus- 

 trial development of the South, the 

 problems which stand out as most im- 

 portant are those connected with agri- 

 culture and forestry. We have met in 

 this special conference to discuss for- 

 estry, a subject most intimately related 

 in many ways to agriculture, but which 

 is of such great importance in itself 

 that it deserves separate consideration. 



"The South is favored with climate 

 and soil especially advantageous both 

 for agriculture and for the production 

 of forests. The original forest was 

 characterized not only by trees of large 

 size but by a great variety of species of 

 peculiarly high quality and of value for 

 widely diversified uses. The hardwood 

 forests were unmatched in any land and 

 the products of the coniferous forests 

 now have a world-wide use. 



"It is unnecessary for me to remind 

 you of the imi:)ortant role played by the 

 resources of the forest in the industrial 

 upbuilding of the South. Suffice it to 

 recall that the cut of lumber aggregates 

 some 24 billion feet a year, or over half 

 of that used in the entire nation. In 

 addition to the lumber interests, other 

 industries, such as the production of 

 turpentine and rosin, the manufacture 

 of wood pulp and paper, cooperage, 

 tanning material, furniture, wooden 

 ware,_ wagons and carriages, and the in- 

 dustries connected with wood distilla- 

 tion and wood preservation, bring the 

 value of the products of the forests to- 

 day to upwards of .-),■")( ) million dollars. 

 Louisiana stands now second in the 



production of lumber, being exceeded 

 only by the State of Washington, while 

 ^Mississippi, North Carolina, Arkansas, 

 X'irginia. and Texas follow in the order 

 named, all leading the principal North- 

 ern and Western timbered States. I am 

 told that the lumber industry of the 

 South employs some 217,000 persons, 

 and that the allied industries require 

 over 200,000 more. W^e are therefore 

 dealing with a problem of gigantic pro- 

 portions and one wdiich because of its 

 magnitude is not of local importance 

 merely but touches the welfare of the 

 entire nation, and calls for the nation's 

 full recognition. 



"Originally the forests of the South 

 covered over 220 million acres. The 

 process of clearing land for agriculture 

 began early in our history and extended 

 rapidly throughout many sections of the 

 South, so that today the total forest 

 area has been reduced to some 150 

 million acres. This great area com- 

 prises a large amount of land which is 

 susceptible of agricultural development 

 as the forest is removed. It is of vital 

 importance to the South that the land 

 suitable to agriculture be devoted to 

 that purpose and just as rapidly as pos- 

 sible be actually used for the growing 

 of crops. That is the problem of those 

 promoting the development of practical 

 and scientific agriculture. There is, 

 however, a vast area of land, some of 

 it in great blocks in the mountains and 

 elsewhere, and some in small patches 

 within the agricultural areas, which is 

 suited only to the growth of trees. It 

 is estimated that this aggregates some 

 100 million acres. The problem of for- 

 estry concerns primarily this area, 

 which is of such a character that it 

 should be continued in productive use 

 for growing timber. 



FORESTS AND FLOODS 



"From an economic standpoint w^e 

 must recognize that forests render 

 service to the public not only through 

 the production of timber for u.se and 

 the maintenance of important indu.stries 

 engaged in the manufacture of these 

 products. In the case of many forests 

 important benefits are derived from 

 their action in preventing erosion and 



