262 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



who regularly cut timber for company 

 use. The company bought run-down 

 farms and fixed up homes for cutters 

 and truckers who supplied wood for 

 the plant. A sawmill was purchased to 

 break down trunks from decadent trees 

 into sizes suitable for use in the com- 

 pany retorts. Good logs were sawed 

 into lumber. Research to diversify 

 products was sponsored. Activated car- 

 bon and other high-priced products 

 stabilized company income. 



Company lands were initially clear- 

 cut at about 40 years of age. The prac- 

 tice was changed to partial cutting so 

 as to increase yield and to favor saw 

 timber that might further lend stabil- 

 ity to operations. Stockholdings were 

 distributed among company officials 

 and others in an effort to build up 

 community interest in the operation. 

 During the peak of wartime activities, 

 outside interests purchased the plant 

 and five others in the vicinity. The new 

 management has dropped the com- 

 pany's forestry program. 



AMONG THE RAILWAY COMPANIES, 

 the Pennsylvania Railroad owns a sub- 

 stantial area of forest land in Pennsyl- 

 vania, from which it obtains water for 

 its engines. Lands to be cut are desig- 

 nated by the company forester and cut 

 on a diameter-limit basis. Manage- 

 ment is conservative. 



The Western Maryland Railway has 

 cooperated with the West Virginia 

 Pulp and Paper Company in sponsor- 

 ing a program of conservative selective 

 cutting on company lands. The objec- 

 tive has been to increase returns from 

 the timber, which is sold to the West 

 Virginia Company, and to increase 

 stability of employment for local resi- 

 dents. The companies join forces to 

 convince local cutters that they can 

 prolong their jobs by following good 

 forestry practices. The program has 

 been successful. 



A few other railways, notably the 

 New York Central and the Norfolk & 

 Western Railway, engage in forest- 

 land management through subsidiary 

 coal companies. 



PULP AND PAPER COMPANIES lead all 

 others in forestry in the North. They 

 control the largest area of land, em- 

 ploy the most foresters, and have the 

 greatest financial stake in sustained- 

 yield forestry. Their programs date 

 from the turn of the century. Exten- 

 sive forestry has characterized opera- 

 tions in remote areas of northern 

 Maine, the Adirondacks, and the Lake 

 States. Intensive forestry programs 

 exist on some accessible lands. 



George Amidon, of the Minnesota 

 and Ontario Paper Company, at the 

 1947 meeting of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Foresters, reported substantial 

 progress in forestry by the pulpwood 

 industry in the Lake States, where 

 there are 112 pulp and paper mills. 

 Foresters were employed by 35 per- 

 cent of the mills in 1937 and by 59 

 percent in 1947; 27 foresters were em- 

 ployed in 1937 and 130 in 1947. The 

 total land owned was about a million 

 acres in 1937 and 1,900,000 acres in 

 1947. Most of the mills reported that 

 they are attempting to manage their 

 lands on a sustained-yield basis. The 

 pulpwood cut from the lands aver- 

 ages only one-twelfth of a cord annu- 

 ally. In time this might be increased 

 to a third, or even one-half cord as 

 the lands are restored to high produc- 

 tivity. About a third of the mills have 

 planting programs under way that will 

 help restore the lands. The mills are 

 also carrying on other activities, such 

 as research on little-used species, co- 

 operation with State and Federal Gov- 

 ernments in forest protection, and 

 demonstrations of good forest prac- 

 tices among small owners. 



The Great Northern Paper Com- 

 pany, in Maine, which began acquir- 

 ing lands before 1900, has followed an 

 extensive forestry program, which has 

 involved special improvements along 

 streams to facilitate driving and long 

 cutting cycles on essentially a sus- 

 tained-yield basis. Only spruce and 

 fir have been cut on the remote lands. 

 The company, experienced in river 

 driving, probably drives more pulp- 

 wood than any other in the country. 



