Naval Stores: The Forests 



291 



MANY OF THE IMPROVEMENTS in the 

 methods of production, processing, and 

 marketing gum naval stores have re- 

 sulted from experimental and research 

 work in the Department of Agriculture. 

 Besides the ones I have mentioned, 

 better chipping methods have come 

 from demonstrations that the narrower 

 and lighter streaks will produce just as 

 much gum and will help conserve tim- 

 ber. A method has been developed for 

 the application of acid stimulants to 

 freshly streaked turpentine faces to 

 prolong the gum flow. With that de- 

 velopment came a bark-chipping hack 

 and a satisfactory device for the appli- 

 cation of acid. Other experiments look 

 to greater mechanization in turpentin- 

 ing practices. Another project now in 

 progress seeks to develop a high-yield- 

 ing strain of turpentine pines. Under 

 Federal-State cooperation, nurseries 

 have been established to provide plant- 



ing stock; from the nurseries in the 

 naval stores belt, many millions of seed- 

 lings have been supplied to owners of 

 turpentine timber. Interest is increasing 

 in the establishment of planted turpen- 

 tine orchards. 



JAY WARD, a native of Tennessee, 

 came to the Department of Agricul- 

 ture as a marketing specialist with the 

 Agricultural Adjustment Administra- 

 tion in 1933. From 1936 until his re- 

 tirement in October 1948, he was in 

 charge of the Naval Stores Conserva- 

 tion Program, which was set up in 1936 

 under the Soil Conservation and Do- 

 mestic Allotment Act and adminis- 

 tered by the Forest Service. A graduate 

 of Benton College of Law at St. Louis, 

 he practiced law in Missouri and en- 

 gaged in various business enterprises 

 before entering the employ of the Fed- 

 eral Government. 



NAVAL STORES: THE FORESTS 



CARL E. OSTROM, JOHN W. SQUIRES 



The naval stores belt extends across 

 the Coastal Plain from the Savannah 

 River to the Mississippi. It is a favored 

 section for growing forest crops. Each 

 acre of pineland can produce wood 

 products, gum naval stores, and forage. 

 Although the soils in most of the area 

 are relatively poor for field crops, the 

 long growing season insures growth of 

 trees. The level topography makes al- 

 most every acre of dry land accessible 

 for the easy removal of products. Tree 

 planting is cheaper and easier than 

 elsewhere in the country. 



Forests occupy nearly three-fourths 

 of the land area in the belt. Forest 

 activities dominate the lives of scores of 

 counties and towns, especially in the 

 continuous forest areas of the "flat- 

 woods," or lower Coastal Plain near 

 the coast. Rail and road traffic runs 

 heavily to pulpwood, logs, poles, gum 

 barrels, rosin drums, and stump wood. 

 Agricultural crops mostly are of minor 



importance. A large proportion of the 

 rural people work in the woods, and get 

 much of their fuel and meat from 

 them. 



People in the area are especially 

 aware of the importance of forests to 

 the future of the South. Residents who 

 have watched slash pine stands or plan- 

 tations spring up under protection are 

 convinced of the importance of pine 

 forests to the future of their communi- 

 ties. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that 

 these pine forests are producing less 

 than half as much as they could. It 

 is obvious that doubling the size of the 

 forest industries is the biggest thing 

 that could happen in sections where 

 forests already provide the greatest 

 source of income. 



The first steps in doubling the forest 

 production in the naval stores belt are 

 the rather elementary ones of fire pro- 

 tection and tree planting. The size of 

 that task is shown in figures for Florida, 



