908 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Service proved that the (luality nf "Kraft" papers made 

 from loiigleaf ]iiiie surpassed in strenstii and toughness 

 any others |:)r(i(hiced in this ciiuntr\' i ir aliriia(L 



CUADKS AND PRIe'ES 



We ha\'e no way of knowing the price of Lmgleaf in 

 the early days, but it must have been very low. Even 

 now it is 1(pw compared with some other woods of anv- 

 tliing like its high quality. The average selling prices 

 at a large mill in Louisiana for the vear T.)]:! are as 

 folli.iws : 



Timbers above 4" sq $31.r3 iJer M feer 



Timbers 3 • j to 4" sq ' 17.!)!) per M feet 



"A" Edge grain flooring 3(1. oii per M feet 



"B" Edge grain flooring 3(i.2!) per M feet 



"C" Edge grain flooring 2^).U) per M feet 



"A" Grade boards 30. (IS per M feet 



"B" Grade boards 24.04 per M feet 



"C" Grade boards 23.43 per AI feet 



No. 1 Cominon 17.83 per AT feet 



No. 2 Common 12. 9S per M feet 



No. 3 Common Kt.TT) per AI feet 



Box Shocks l.">.i)S per A I feet 



Moulding 24.54 per A I feet 



Lath Xo. 1 1.78 per AI 



Lath Xo. 2 1.15 per AI 



Shingles 2.41 per AI 



The mill run at tlie time was about $10.50 per At as 

 compared with $10.00 f(jr white pine. 



FUTUTli; OF TUF. LOXGI.EAF 



The original area of the longleaf range was slighth' 

 in excess of lOit.OOO square miles, over most of which 

 the tree grew in pure stands. Assuming an a\erage stand 

 of 5,ii(i() feet to the acre, the original stand would have 

 been 320,000, 0()0,00(» feet. The original stand of white 

 pine is estimated to liave been 450,000, OOii.OOO feet. 44ie 

 longleaf estimate certainly seems conservative, since tlv 

 annual cut for the last ten }ears has been in excess of 

 10,0(10,(100,(10(1 feet i)er anmnu and in 1IM:I the remaining 

 stand was estimated at 2:'.2,300,0()0,000 feet, or aboui 

 one-twelfth of all the standing timber in the L'nited 

 States. The estimated stands of western yellow pin.e 

 and Douglas fir alone exceed that of longleaf. The kmg 

 leaf pine stand Iiy States is as follows: 



North Carolina 2,900,000,000 



South Carolina 4.(i00,000,000* 



Georgia 1 S, 500,000,00(1* 



Florida 5.s,200.000,000* 



Alabama ■35,(;o(l,Ooo,ooo* 



Alississippi 47,(;oo,Ooo,0(io 



Louisiana 52,5((O,0(io,0(io 



Texas 22,400,000.000 



*Includes some Cuban pine. 



That seems a huge sujiply, but experience has iiroven 

 that no wood is inexhaustible, even though the supply 

 may last Icmger th.an is at first predicted. The axerage 

 rate of cut for the i)ast few years has been abmU 12.- 

 000,000,000 feet per annum, and it is thought to ha\'e 

 reached its maximum. .\t this rate the supply of \ irgin 



longleaf will be gone in 20 years. It will probably last 

 slightly longer, since the niaxinnim cut cannot be main- 

 tained clear to the piiint of exhaustion. Companies ex- 

 haust their holdings and are unable to secure more stump- 

 age; with the restrictions of output comes an advance in 

 jirice, resulting in a substitution of other woods, and a 

 lessened demand, more conservtitve cutting and milling 

 methods are intrcjduced ; all of which help to stretch out 

 the su{)ply. It is therefore safe to assume that \irgin 

 longleaf will last at least 25 years, Iiut will be gone in 35. 



LITTLI'; llOl'E I'OR SICCOXD CKOWTH 



But what of the second growth; has the longleaf, like 

 the white jiine. a future as a second growth tree? The 

 answer, unfortunately seems to be "Xo." TechnicalL- 

 it is possible to reproduce longleaf, and if the pine bar- 

 rens could be constituted a forest reserve, and handled 

 s)mi)ly from the viewpoint of forest management, the 

 tree might be perpetuated commercially, but as it stands 

 this seems scarcely possible. For longleaf does not 

 "come back" after lumbering. It seeds very infrequently 

 and grows slowdy. A'oung gniw-th scarcely ever comes in 

 under the shade of the older trees, and in the openings 

 it is kept out by fires. \A'hen the area has been logged, 

 the burning of the slash, which invariablv follows, kills i 

 all the smaller trees which have been left, and the annual 

 grass fires, together with the absence of seed trees keep 

 uiore from coming in. So longleaf has become com- 

 mercially, almost botanically, extinct over whole sec- 

 tions and they are now barrens indeed. Xorth Carolina, 

 formerly the pine tree state of the South, hardly knows ' 

 it now as a commercial tree. There are no counterparts 

 to the second growth stands of white pine which occur 

 in portions of Xcw England, in the longleaf range. X^or 

 dries the species lend itself to artificial reforestation. It 

 sends down into the soil a strong, deeply penetrating tap 

 root, almost before it has developed any top at all. which 

 prevents its satisfactory cultivation in the nursery. 



.\ii article nil .shortleaf pine will (■.llnw this slmrtlv. Coiiimer- 

 cially the longleaf and shortleaf are lioth known and sold as 

 yelliw pine, hut there is such a ditiference in their cliaracteristics 

 that separate articles dcscrihiivj; them are warranted. — Editor. 



AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE 



OX S1'*I'T1{.M1'.EK 22 at 9 in the morning. Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture Houston will meet rej)resen- 

 tatives ni the American h'orestry Association, of 

 several State forestry associations and of Chambers of 

 Commerce from the larger cities on the Atlantic Coast 

 to discuss the i>roiiosal to ask Congress to make an ap- 

 propriation of $10,000,000 to continue the purchase of 

 Federal forest reser\ es in the White Mountains and 

 Southern App.il.ichians. There is hope that such an ap- 

 propriation may be provided, in which event it will be 

 possible to continue such purchases as have already been 

 so wiselv made. 



