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Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



belt, and actually is helpful in reducing 

 the fire hazard. As a practical matter 

 of fact, if an owner does not graze 

 cattle on his own land in the open 

 range country, someone else will. 



But despite the recognized place of 

 grazing in the management of naval 

 stores forests, a great deal remains to be 

 learned about integrating grazing with 

 other uses of the land. Present herd- 

 management practice is rather primi- 

 tive. The cattle are usually grazed 

 yearlong on the forest range, whereas 

 the forage in winter is not sufficiently 

 nutritious to meet minimum needs of 

 the animals. The results are small calf 

 crops, low calf weights, and high death 

 losses. 



Research has shown the nutritive 

 value of the forest range at each season 

 of the year, and has indicated the kind, 

 amount, and timing of supplemental 

 feeding that is necessary for good 

 health of cattle on Coastal Plain ranges. 

 Research has also shown that forest 

 range cattle need yearlong mineral sup- 

 plements, especially phosphorus. This 

 is provided by a mixture of 2 parts 

 steamed bonemeal to 1 part salt. 



Supplemental feeding may be pro- 

 vided in the form of concentrates, such 

 as cottonseed meal, or by making im- 

 proved pasture available at seasons 

 when the nutrient content of the native 

 forage is low. 



Where feasible, good herd-manage- 

 ment practices should be instituted to 

 maintain the quality of the herd and 

 to limit calving to the best time of the 

 year. Cross fences are necessary for 

 proper control of the herd and proper 

 use of the range, but on poor land it 

 may be difficult to demonstrate the 

 soundness of such an investment. 



THE PRESSURE OF DIFFERENT USES 



on the forest land here has been heavy. 

 A decade or two ago the mortality and 

 loss of growth resulting from turpen- 

 tining was as great as the total amount 

 of the pine lumber harvested. In 

 Florida if it had not been for repeated 

 forest fires usually associated with 

 grazing which killed out the young 



growth and perpetuated understocked 

 stands, the State could be producing 

 twice as much timber as it now does. 



In northeastern Florida, by far the 

 best-timbered section of the State, the 

 average growing stock is less than 5 

 cords an acre, and the growth is one- 

 sixth cord an acre a year. The average 

 saw-timber growth is 47 board feet an 

 acre a year, and the saw-timber stand 

 is being cut a good deal faster than it 

 is growing. 



The various pressures on the land for 

 wood, grass, and gum cannot simply be 

 removed. They must be integrated in 

 sound systems of forest-land manage- 

 ment. Turpentining must be done with 

 a view to stand improvement and tim- 

 ber production. Grazing fires must be 

 converted into systems of prescribed 

 burning for forest protection. The 

 whole complex must be worked into 

 a management pattern that takes ad- 

 vantage of those pressures on the land 

 for profit. 



It is the multiple profit from wood, 

 gum, and grass that Capt. I. F. Eld- 

 redge, a forester, had in mind when he 

 said: "Nowhere in the United States 

 are silvicultural and economic condi- 

 tions more favorable for intensive in- 

 dustrial forestry management than in 

 the naval stores belt of the Southeast." 



CARL E. OSTROM is in charge of the 

 Lake City Branch of the Southeastern 

 Forest Experiment Station. Since 1934 

 he has been employed at several of the 

 regional forest experiment stations. His 

 work has consisted of research in silvi- 

 culture and regeneration in the North- 

 east and the Northwest and research in 

 naval stores production in the South- 

 east. 



JOHN W. SQUIRES is supervisor of 

 national forests in Mississippi. As a boy 

 he lived in Louisiana, and later, in the 

 employ of the Forest Service, he was 

 stationed in Georgia, Florida, and Mis- 

 sissippi. As supervisor of the national 

 forests in Florida, he cooperated with 

 the experiment station at Lake City on 

 the correlation of prescribed burning, 

 naval stores, and grazing activities. 



