HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



power of the soil, expressing itself in tlie growlli whicli maizes big trees 

 out of little trees. A second natural law is the increasing value of tim- 

 ber from decade to decade, resulting not only from its greater scarcity 

 but as well from new and more complete utilization of all kinds and 

 conditions of wood. 



Forestry, as I understand it. is nothing more or less than the intelligent 

 use of the^e fundamental laws in the management of timber lands. And 

 it seeks through the application of these natural laws to find a basis 

 upon which the lumber industry can be made a business, not alone of 

 today or tomorrow but of the future. 



The possibilities of forestr.v in southern hardwoods rest upon and are 

 absolutely limited by the fundamental need of fire protection. It is fruit- 

 less to talk of conservative cutting or any other aspects of improved 

 forest management until fire protection of reasonable efficiency is an 

 established fact. 



The owner of hardwood lands has been slow to realize the necessity 

 of eliminating Are risk from his property. This is due to the slight 

 damage caused by fire to his merchantable timber as compared with the 

 northern coniferous forests. It is not dilhcult to prove, however, that the 

 loss in merchantable timber in the southern hardwoods from repeated 

 fires, occurring with periodic regularity, is a serious factor on many of 

 the drier sites. The constant killing out of the smaller growth results in 

 the cotu'se of years in a much sparser stand than the ground would 

 naturally support. 



Looking ahead of the utilization of the present matured crop, the 

 elimination of fire is an absolute prerequisite of any step toward perma- 

 nent use of the capacity of the ground to produce wood, of any step 

 toward placing the hardwood industry upon a permanent footing with an 

 assured future suppl.v of raw material. Doubtless we have all seen areas 

 in the various stages of the passing of the forest under repeated attacks 

 by fire, and this, too, in a region where natural factors are so favorable 

 to tree growth that, with this single element of injury eliminated, a new 

 forest of some kind would spring up after any conceivable method of 

 cutting. 



An estimate based upon all the data obtainable shows that the hard 

 wood lands of the southern states, in the broad, will produce about t-U) 

 cubic feet of wood an acre annually if fire loss is eliminated : that is. 

 about 180 board feet every year on every acre. In every thousand acres 

 which are kept from producing and accumulating this natural growth by 

 repeated fires the hardwood business is losing 180,000 board feet of 

 future timber every year. 



The first and great commandment of forestry, in the southern hard- 

 woods in common with all other timbered regions, is — eliminate your fire 

 risk as a general condition. It is my judgment that the time has come 

 tor the lumbering Industry to heed this commandment. I believe that 

 this first essential step to insure the stability of your business should be 

 taken now. Without it there can be no forestry development that is real 

 or worth the effort. 



Studies made by the Forest Service indicate that much of the hard- 

 wood land in the Soutliern Appalachian ranges will yield, under forest 

 management, upwards of 40 cubic feet of wood per acre annually. That 

 means 2.500 board feet on every acre every 10 years. A large number 

 of measurements of oak and chestnut sprout lands of good quality in 

 eastern Tennessee, lands cut clean halt a century ago and restocked from 

 the stump, show a yield of 700 railroad ties per acre in SO years. 



It would be foolish to attempt any uniform application of these possi- 

 bilities of wood production, under protection from lire, to your business. 

 The application will necessarily vary in accordance with differences in 

 the character of the timber, its accessibility to transportation, and the 

 market for various products. 



For the lumber manufacturer who is contending with the low-grade 

 problem and who lacks a market in the form of railroad ties, mine props, 

 acid wood, and the like, for his smaller and rougher timber, there is, 

 in my judgment, one definite and practicable application. That is, to leave 

 a portion of his low grade stock in the form of small rough timber on 

 the ground, to grow and clear itself a bit before it is marketed. He may 

 increase his operating costs slightly but he will decrease the percentage 

 of low grades in his cut. The trees he would leave will be in the best 

 period of their growth, when they are not only adding most rapidly to 

 their volume but also clearing themselves of limbs and improving the 

 grade of their lumber at the greatest pace, and their growth will be 

 made still more rapid by cutting out the larger trees around them. 



Some striking results are obtained from a close analysis of the yield 

 of trees of different size by lumber grades. It takes about three years 

 for a 13-inch yellow poplar to add an inch to its diameter. During that 

 period the increased volume and improved grade of the timber in the 

 average tree adds 4-1 per cent to its net value above the costs of log- 

 ging and manufacture. This is at the rate of 12 per cent a year, com- 

 pound interest, a return which I take it would be considered extremely 

 satisfactory in almost any business enterprise. While a yellow poplar is 

 growing from 16 to 17 inches, it is earning 9 per cent a year, compound 

 interest. From 24 to 25 inches, it is earning but 4 per cent. A similar 

 change in actual value, based upon a close analy.sis of grade contents, 

 is taking place in the smallest third of the trees of most species usually 

 cut in hardwood operations. 



The South contains today enormous areas of low grade hardwood from 

 which the better timber has been culled. In the absence of a first-class 



market for minor products, it may be worth while to determine how the 

 value of such timber changes as it increases in volume and improves In 

 grade. Perhaps it is earning more money to its owner by standing on 

 the ground than It could if cut now and converted into cash. 1 have 

 faith particularly in conservative cutting of this fashion for the operator 

 who finds the disposal of low grade stock difficult and whose average 

 present return might be increased by eliminating a part of the low grade 

 stuff from his cut. 



In localities where there are good markets for crossties, mine props, 

 acid wood, and like small products, the best forestry may require clean 

 stripping of the land and the growth of a new crop of sprout wood from 

 the stump. By the best forestry I mean the forestry which pays the 

 most money. The actual production of wood in a given period of time 

 is most rapid under this method. Where the market exists, common sense 

 will often demand its adoption. The possibilities of future returns under 

 it are indicated by one of the instances which I previously cited. Good 

 quality sprout lands in eastern Tennessee can be purchased, as I am 

 informed, for under .f.") an acre. In 50 years they will yield 700 crossties 

 to the acre, the actual growth which has taken place on a large number 

 of measured areas. Assuming that 2 cents an acre each year will pay 

 the cost of efficient fire protection and that a cent and a quarter per 

 acre will pay the annual taxes, the crossties would have to be worth, at 

 the end of the 50-year period required to produce them. 8% cents on the 

 stump to return 5 per cent compound interest on the entire investment 

 in laud, protection and taxes. Any advance in the price of tie stumpage 

 within the 50-year period above this figure would mean that much profit 

 over the percentage given. 



Far be it from me to cite such examples as this as indicating some- 

 thing that every hardwood owner in the South ought or can do. The 

 application of any forestry to the extremely inferior lands with slow rate 

 of growth is doubtful. Some owners are so situated with reference to 

 markets and transportation facilities as to make any attempt to ad- 

 minister their holdings in accordance with such methods of doubtful 

 financial wisdom. I have, however, tremendous faith in the possibilities 

 of forest management in many portions of the hardwood belt, in accord- 

 ance with some such methods as I have outlined, adapted to the varying 

 conditions in the individual case. I believe that the time is ripe for at 

 least thorough-going tests of their possibilities in increased production of 

 wood and greater ultimate money return. 



So much for the general needs and possibilities of forestr.v in the 

 southern hardwoods. What is the federal government doing and what is 

 it ready to do towards bringing about the things which these needs and 

 possibilities indicate should be done? 



The United States is now in a fair way to become a neighbor of mem- 

 bers of your organization as an owner of hardwood timber land, and to 

 experience itself the responsibilities and difficulties involved in the ad- 

 ministration of timbered property in the South. Under the terms of the 

 Weeks Law, passed March 1. 1911. the purchase of .ipproximately S.'i.OOO 

 acres in western North Carolina, northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee and 

 southwestern Virginia has been approved by the Forest Reservation Com- 

 mission. The final acquisition of these lands by the government now 

 rests entirely upon the determination of titles. The examination of an 

 additional area, totaling 400.000 acres in the southern states, has been 

 completed. With .$8,000,000 available for land purchases within the 

 present and succeeding three years, we may anticipate that the United 

 States government will be definitely established in hardwood circles as 

 an owner of stumpage within the near future. 



It is not probable that the lands acquired by the federal government 

 will be concentrated in very large holdings. The areas purchased will 

 in the main be widely distributed throughout the Southern Appalachian 

 range-s. This we believe to be distinctly desirable. It will enable the 

 Forest Service to get into direct touch with a large number of private 

 owners. 



One point in reference to the acquisition of lands in the Southern 

 Aiipalachinns by thi' federal government I wish to make particularly em- 

 phatic. These areas will not be placed in a glass ease and reserved from 

 use. As rapidly as it is practicable to develop administrative machinery 

 and secure the information necessary for the intelligent management of 

 these lands, it will be the policy of the Forest Service to sell their 

 timber under conseivative methods of cutting. 



The presence of national forests in the southern hardwood belt will 

 not. therefore, be inimical to the lumber and wood using industries in that 

 region. Our timber will be available for their needs subject only to such 

 restrictions as we believe necessary in the interests of permanent and 

 conservative forest management. Wc hope that the presence of these 

 national forests may prove of distinct benefit to your industry. We 

 believe that when we are once established as a timber owner in this 

 region, we will be able to demonstrate the possibilities of efficient flre 

 protection and applied forestry in a way that will convince our neighliors 

 of their practicability and value. We hope and are confident that we will 

 be able from the start to co-operate with adjacent private owners in 

 working out rhe best solution of these problems, and in joint eft'ort along 

 all practicable lines for the good of forestry and the industries dependent 

 upon it. and for the good of the states where our mutual interests will lie. 

 Another phase of federal work which we desire greatly to extend into 

 the South, and which we believe will help in solving the immediate and 

 fundamental problem of flre protection is co-operation with states under 



