TICKS AND TIMBER 



BY AUSTIN CARY 



IN CHARGE, CO-OPERATION WITH PRIVATE TIMBERLAND OWNERS, UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE 



THE South has not figured largely in the calculations 

 of foresters. In fact, as compared with the North- 

 east, which is much farther advanced commercially, 

 and with the West, where the National Forests are 

 located, it has received but scant attention. It is, how- 

 ever, a land of 

 great interest 

 and promise. 



The vast ex- 

 tent to which 

 good land in 

 the South is 

 still unutilized 

 has been lately 

 brought to 

 public attention 

 through the 

 movement for 

 soldier's 

 homes. Most 

 people, proba- 

 bly, have lately 

 acquired some 

 sense of a new 

 industrial life 

 now stirring 

 through that 

 region. This 

 new activity is 

 along two main 

 lines manu- 

 f act u res of 

 various kinds, 

 and new uses 

 for land. 



Men are dis- 

 covering that 

 southern lands 

 have resources 

 not previously 

 valued, and 

 that proper 

 treatment may 

 develop these 

 to a usefulness 

 never before dreamed of. At one point and another, and 

 in one direction and another, therefore, thought and en- 

 terprise are now reaching out for the utilization of oppor- 

 tunities. This movement is in its inception as yet, but 

 under the pressure of economic forces and the steadily 

 maintained push of American business men, it seems 

 destined to make of the South "the next West," as some 



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ABOVE: THE GOOD AND THE POOR IN CLOSE PROXIMITY. 17 YEAR OLD SLASH PINES UP 

 TO 8 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND 45 FEET TALL; PROMISING TO YIELD 15 YEARS FROM 

 NOW TEN TIMES AS MUCH NAVAL STORES AND LUMBER AS THE OTHER SITE. 



BELOW: THE TREES, THOUGH PROBABLY 150 YEARS OLD, ARE ONLY 50 FEET TALL, AND 

 THE STAND 1200 FEET PER ACRE. SOIL MAKES THE DIFFERENCE. 



have expressed it. Of the new uses for land, grazing is 

 today most prominent, and hundreds of enterprises are 

 starting. Its large success depends on the extermination 

 of the cattle tick, a long-standing pest of the South, which 

 brings to naught all efforts to improve the strain of cattle, 



kills many of 

 t h e animals, 

 and stunts the 

 growth of all. 

 Eradication of 

 the tick is es- 

 sential for a 

 successful 

 grazing indus- 

 try. Fortunate- 

 ly, the founda- 

 tion of scien- 

 tific investiga- 

 tion was laid 

 years ago, the 

 e x e cution of 

 plans has al- 

 ready made 

 good progress, 

 and within a 

 few years suc- 

 cess promises 

 to be complete. 

 Great should 

 be the reward 

 of those who 

 have led in that 

 work at its dif- 

 ferent stages, 

 for they have 

 not only freed 

 southern cattle 

 of a tremen- 

 dous handicap, 

 but they have 

 taken a load 

 off the energies 

 of a host of 

 men. The new 

 life and spirit 

 of enterprise where that incubus is removed are note- 

 worthy. 



Not least, perhaps, of the results of this houseclean- 

 ing, though not very strongly in evidence as yet, will be 

 the effect on the forest interests of the region. These 

 will gain with the new stimulation of thought ; but there 

 are special channels through which benefit will flow, 



