498 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



utilized by reforestation. There is a considerable acre- 

 age of land in the coastal plain which in the judgment 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture is abso- 

 lutely unfitted for agricultural purposes, and this land 

 must be reforested or remain a burden on the hands of 

 the owners or of the State, should it revert to the sover- 

 eign through seizure for taxes. In the meantime there is 

 a growing demand for lumber and an alarming falling 

 off in the potential supply. Forests have been razed by 

 lumbermen and others without regard to replacement, in 

 many instances not a seed tree being left standing to start 

 new growth. It has been said that the transient lumber- 

 man of the flush days now drawing to a close was like 

 the carpet-bagger of an earlier period, out for what he 

 could take away, and took no heed to the welfare of the 

 community in which he operated. There are indications 

 that this carpetbag policy has undergone a change. 

 When Henr>' Hardtner, of Urania, some years ago fig- 

 ured that the vast tract of standing timber of his com- 

 pany would only feed the sawmill for twenty-five years 

 longer, he set himself to the solution of the problem of 

 making the business a permanent one. He reached the 

 conclusion that by intelligent cultivation he could re- 

 place his forests as fast as the sawmill could consume 

 them. Col. W. H. Sullivan, of the Great Southern Lum- 

 ber Company, of Bogalusa, after a study of the Hardt- 

 ner project determined to follow his intelligent lead. 

 Hence the town of Bogalusa, built up by the business of 

 the Great Southern Company's mill, which in a few years 

 reached a population of 10,000, and is still rapidly grow- 

 ing, has been constructed as a permanent settlement, not 

 a temporary sawmill town, such as have sprung up and 

 disappeared in the South in the past thirty years. 



Soon after the activities of the northern lumbermen 

 began, 300,000 acres of Louisiana forests were being de- 

 nuded each year, the lumbermen mutilating trees they 

 could not use and leaving no seed trees standing to se- 

 cure regrowth. As the more valuable timber became ex- 

 hausted the lumbermen installed plants to utilize as by- 

 products that which should have been permitted to grow 

 and re-establish the forest. Henry Hardtner demon- 

 strated in his experiment at Urania that if a tree or two 

 were left on each acre the land would be reforested by 

 nature, the only needed aid being the prevention of fires, 

 and, in the case of long-leaf pine, the keeping of the 

 razor-back hog away from the seedlings. The bark of 

 the root of these seedlings is sweet and the hog is very 

 fond of it, and roots up every seedling within his reach. 

 On the other hand the root of loblolly and short leaf pine 

 has a bitter taste and hog leave it alone. Hence new 

 growth on cut-over lands has generally been confined tp- 

 less valuable timber. 



Contemporary with the destruction of the forests there 

 has grown up in Louisiana a lumber business the invesr- 

 nient in which, as shown by the assessments rolls. Is 

 .S2ix).ooo,ooo, employing approximately 57 per cent of 

 the State's industrial labor. Within a few years this 

 Lcrtat Inisiness will be entirely wiped out, unless refores- 

 tation cjoes hand in hand with destruction. Louisiana 



has not been entirely remiss in the protection of her 

 forests. As early as 1904 an act was passed to provide 

 for the protection of the forests of the State, the sup- 

 pression and prevention of forest fires, and to provide for 

 the reforestation of denuded lands, and for proper in- 

 struction in forestry in the public schools, etc. This was 

 an excellent beginning, but unfortunately there were no 

 funds available to carry on the work. In 1920, through 

 the efforts of M. L. Alexander, Commissioner of the Con- 

 servation Department, the Legislature passed another 

 law providing funds sufficient to enable the forestry di- 

 vision of the department to employ men in the field, and 

 placing a severance tax on lumber to provide funds for 

 the prosecution of the work. Previous to the passage 

 of this act, Mr. Alexander, by virtue of the broad scope 

 of the law establishing the department, had set aside 

 funds received from hunting licenses, oyster leases, etc., 

 to start the work. The act of 1920, however, made the 

 division self-supporting and has enabled it to place 

 thirty forest rangers in the field to protect standing tim- 

 ber against forest fires. These rangers also spread the 

 gospel of conservation among the people and warn of the 

 danger of recklessly building fires in the woods and grass 

 lands. They warn the people that when the forests go 

 they must pay a higher tax rate to support the govern- 

 ment and provide for public improvements. Railroads 

 lines are regularly inspected by the rangers to see that 

 the right of way is kept free of inflammable material, 

 and sawmills are similarly inspected to diminish fire haz- 

 ards. The people are instructed to aid in the protection 

 of the forests. Owing to the nature of the Uimate and 

 the quality of the soil, the State Forester believes, if 

 fires can be prevented, the forests will reproduce them- 

 selves whenever seed trees have been left standing. In 

 absolutely bare areas replanting will be necessary. 



Fires are universally recognized as the great danger 

 and the worst foe of forest conservation. Prevent them, 

 and the standing trees will soon reseed the cut-over area. 

 A healthy pine tree will produce large quantities of seed, 

 each seed germ being provided with a sail, and an ordi- 

 nary wind will carry the seed a considerable distance, 

 covering the ground around the tree with an average of 

 250,000 to 300,000 seeds to the acre. In a few months 

 these seed sprout and little trees about an inch high ap- 

 pear. These seedlings will replenish the forest if pro- 

 tected, but they cannot stand fire. Recognizing these facts 

 the Legislature has penalized the starting of fires, either 

 through carelessness or intent, that endanger forest 

 growth, and has required lumbermen to leave uncut and 

 "unbled" for turpentine at least one healthy young tree 

 per acre to reseed the land. It has also passed laws en- 

 couraging reforestation, limiting the taxing of lands 

 whose owners enter into contract with the State to set 

 aside the cut-over land for a term of years for the growth , 

 of trees. 



A few large tracts of cut-over forest have already been 

 so set aside, and other owners are desirous of entering 

 into the contract. That the business of reforestation 

 can be made profitable has been demonstrated. If eight 



