TIMBER REGIONS SUPPLY AND PRODUCTION. 



35 



grade were found to make sticks of from 40 to 45 feet long, perfectly clear of limb knots, and 18 to 

 22 inches mean diameter, giving from 450 to 750 feet of lumber, with the sapwood from 1 to 2 

 inches wide. 



The following measurements of trees from a small tract of forest untouched by the ax serve 

 as a fair average sample of its timber growth : 



Along the numerous railroad lines and the navigable streams and their tributaries admitting 

 of the driving of logs, the forests have been completely stripped of their merchantable timber, 

 and the denuded areas to a considerable extent are at present under cultivation. The magnifi- 

 cent forests on the Altahama Eiver and between its tributaries, the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers, 

 and als > on the Ogeechee Eiver, have been practically exhausted and are utterly devastated by 

 the tapping of the trees for turpentine. In fact, more than two-thirds of all the timber sawn at 

 present has been bled. The timber from the turpentine orchards, abandoned for years past, is 

 being rapidly removed to the mills, aud the vast areas occupied by them will, within a short time, 

 be almost completely denuded of the Longleaf Pine, its place being taken by scrubby oaks, dwarf 

 hickories, and Persimmon. The timber is transferred to the mills mostly by steam-equippad 

 tramroads, and the products of the turpentine distilleries in the remoter districts are hauled 

 to the highways of commerce by ox teams for distances of 12 miles and over. 



Considering the removal for their timber of trees far below medium size and during the best 

 period of their growth, the destruction of still younger trees by turpentine orcharding, and ot 

 the young seedlings by fire, the prospect for the future of the lumber industry and the renewal 

 of the forests of Longleaf Pine in this region are gloomy. Many of the intelligent men practically 

 interested in the timber lands of this State aver that the exhaustion of the forests of the Longleaf 

 Pine is a question of but a short space of time, to be accomplished before another generation has 

 passed. 



The amount of timber standing at the end of the census year 1880 had been computed at 

 16,778,000,000 feet, board measure, and the cut at 272,743,000 feet. 



From the publication quoted, it appears that in the year 1890 there were 88 sawmills in opera- 

 tion in the great pine belt of Georgia, sawing exclusively Longleaf Pine timber. On the basis of 

 lowest figures cited, the daily cut at these establishments during that year would not fall short of 

 1,667,000 feet, indicating an animal cut of over 400,000,000 feet. 



No statistical returns of the lumber trade previous to 1884 could be obtained at Savannah, 

 Darien, or Brunswick. The export from the first of these ports averaged about 73,000,000 feet, 

 board measure, a year, showing but slight fluctuation during the period beginning with 1884 to 

 the close of 1889, when in the subsequent two years the annual average increased to 118,000,000 

 feet, board measure. The exports from Darien and Brunswick, averaging 82,000,000 and 

 85,000,000 feet, respectively, for a similar period of time, show also but small differences from one 

 year to another. About 30,000,000 to 33,000,000 feet are rafted down the Flint and Chattahoochee 

 rivers, to be sawn at Apalachicola. With the spread of the sawmills along the railroad lines in 

 the upper part of the pine region, the shipments of lumber by rail to distant Northern markets 

 increased steadily, until in 1802 it was found that the production of Lougleaf Pine lumber shipped 

 by rail to Northern markets exceeded 60,000,000 feet. 



