WHAT FORESTRY MEANS TO SOUTHERN COMMERCE 



435 



and genera! human neglect, all of which are fast dispos- 

 sessing Nature in her efforts to reforest them. It is 

 merely adding yearly to your 35 million acres of denuded 

 and unproductive land. 



On the other hand, the comimercial possibilities of re- 

 growth on these southern forest lands are unequalled 

 in any other region in this country. Nature has endowed 

 the South with some of the most remarkable trees in the 

 United States. Your long leaf ind slash pines, for exam- 

 ple, not only rank first for structural lumber, but they are 

 the source of your naval stores industry, which yield an- 

 nual products valued at more than $40,000,000. Their 

 wood is convertible into a great variety of by-products, in- 

 cluding industrial alcohol of highest quality, pulp and pa- 

 per, pine oils, etc. Natural reproduction of the southern 

 pines is simple and easy. Their growth is exceedingly 

 rapid 500 to 1,000 board feet per acre per year, depend- 

 ing upon the quality of the soil. They will yield pulp 

 wood, firev/ood, railway ties or turpentine crops in 20 

 to 25 years and merchantable lumber in 30 to 40 years. 

 Apply a conservative growth rate of 400 feet an acre a 

 year to the 36 million acres of pine land in the coastal 

 plain region and you will gain some idea of the productive 

 power of these lands when put under forest management 

 143^ billion feet of timber growth each year, or more 

 than enough to maintain the lumber industry at its present 

 capacity for all time, to expand your declining naval 

 ..tores ind istry and to build up a permanent pulp and 

 paper industry on the forest v/aste. At present prices, 

 iiat means an inflow of wealth to the South aggregating 

 over 350 million dollars annually and indefinitely. It 

 means the South's continued dominance of the great 

 lumber markets to the north. It means stability and 

 growth to your local wood using industries, because as- 

 surance of a permanent timber crop here in the South 

 will inevitably draw wood using factories from all parts 

 of the North. It may be of interest to you to know 

 that in the seven years following 1912, the lumber cut of 

 the State of New York declined 65 per cent and coinci- 

 dent therewith, 35 per cent of the wood using industries 

 of the Sta^e went out of business. And finally, forestry 

 in the South means a very decided commercial advantage 

 to all your industries using wood, in the competitive 

 markets of the world. Whether a Florida orange or a 

 California orange will be served on the breakfast tables 

 of Des Moines, Iowa, a few years hence, may depend 

 on whether your fruit growers can obtain the box lumber 

 locally or mu.st import it from Oregon and Washington. 

 Because of favorable growth conditions forestry in 

 the South is an exceedingly simple and practicable thing. 

 It involves primarily the protection of cut-'over and 

 grov/th areas from fire and other destructive agents, 

 the taxing of growing timber as a periodic soil crop 

 instead of an annual crop, which it is not, and finally, 

 cutting methods which assure the leaving of sufficient 

 seed trees or young timber to keep the land continuously 

 producing growing forests. Methods of applying these 

 principles will naturally have to vary to meet local prob- 

 lems and local conditions. Restrictive measures, for ex- 

 ample, should be imposed upon the promiscuous turpen- 

 tining of young trees. The naval stores industry, it is 



generally dmitted, I believe, should be conducted on the 

 prmciple of getting the maximum yield of gum from 

 the tree at the right time and in the right way instead 

 of on the principle of getting the least out of the tree 

 as soon as possible. Turpentining, correctly done, is a 

 perfectly proper and desirable step in the harvesting 

 of the forest crop. One other point, the grazing of 

 cattle on forest land is not antagonistic to forestry if 

 sanely regulated. 



Thus far, my references have been largely to your 

 piney woods but the broader aspects of the situation 

 apply with equal force to your hardwood forests. As 

 to them, it is only necessary to add that the South today 

 contains 61 per cent of the remaining hardwood supply 

 in the United States and in many respects the country 

 is more dependent on the South for hardwoods than for 

 softwoods. There is no great reserve of hardwoods in 

 the West. Today furniture in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 

 is b.:t,.^ made from trees which grew near the mouth of 

 tl-.j Mississippi River. Keep your hardwood lands which 

 are not more valuable for agricuhure, growing timber 

 and the balance of trade in the hardwood market will 

 be with the South. 



Whether we talk hardwoods or softwoods, the South's 

 opportunity is equally great. It may be summed up as 

 follows: First, the exhaustion of other forests readily 

 accessible to the great lumber markets of America; sec- 

 ond, the strategic geographical position of southern forest 

 lands in relation to those markets; third, your transpor- 

 tation advantages by rail and water over the West Coast, 

 the last great forest reserve in this country ; fourth, your 

 long coast line and its favorable shipping routes into the 

 lumber markets of the whole world; fifth, the cheap 

 logging made possible by the easy topography of much of 

 your timber land ; sixth, the increasing value of forest 

 stumpage in the eastern United States ; seventh, the pro- 

 ductive power of southern forest soils and the rapidity 

 with which timber crops may be produced ; and finally, 

 a great variety of species of highly commercial value. 



But how is forest management in the South to be 

 brought about? There is only one way and that is 

 through leadership and public enlightenment. When the 

 people awaken to an appreciation of the value of perma- 

 nent forests as they have, although too late, in such States 

 as New York and Pennsylvania, when they are made 

 to realize that the exhaustion of their forests and their 

 forest lands means loss of industries, loss of population, 

 loss of taxes, and loss of wealth, they will provide fire 

 protection, fair taxation, regulatory cutting and other 

 necessary measures. Education is the first forward step. 

 Already much has been accomplished in some of the 

 Southern States, notably in Louisiana. The commercial 

 clubs of the South can render great service to their com- 

 munities and to their states in bringing home to their 

 people the meaning of forestry and the need for it. Edu- 

 cate your members, educate your neighbors, and above 

 all, educate your legislators. If your State has not a 

 forest department, help crystallize a public sentiment 

 which will create it. It is a cause worthy of your leader- 

 ship. 



