PINE INVENTORY 



Southern wood products by the simple expediency of 

 doubling the lumber crews. Production of pulpwood 

 differs radically from the production of pulp. While 

 the output of pulp may be doubled by installing twice 

 as many digestors and doubling the purchases of chem- 

 icals, nevertheless that plant inexorably depreciates to 

 zero value. On the other hand, the living tree reproduces 

 itself naturally. Even the best-cleared farm land, left to 

 itself, in time returns to forest. These plain, uncompro- 

 mising facts make a Southern woodland more impor- 

 tant than the gum turpentine or logs it currently pro- 

 duces. 



Anyone broadly viewing the future opportunities of 

 the South recognizes this instantly. However, many 

 landowners, big and little, are so nearsighted that liter- 

 ally they cannot see the forest for the trees. Though the 

 broad theory is generally accepted, its application is 

 likely to be narrowly selfish. 



Eating the seed corn upon which depends next year's 

 harvest has been a bad habit of Homo sapiens ever since 

 the caveman planted his first crop. But careless pro- 

 fligacy puts a high premium upon security. Let the 

 thoughtless landowner once get the idea of his wood- 

 land as a savings bank, then he is likely to become an 

 enthusiastic conservationist. Nowadays his good resolu- 

 tions are receiving constant encouragements. 



In the first place, pines of several varieties grow so 

 rapidly in the South that they hold forth promise of 



143 



