302 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



results by converting these old fields into permanent pas- 

 tures through the introduction of grasses and legumes 

 that yield forage the year round. Carpet grass called by 

 some the blue grass of the Coastal Plain is the largest 

 factor in Mr. Renfroe's experiments. Instead of ten 

 acres per head Mr. Renfroe's pastures carry one head 

 of cattle per acre. As pasture lands the year round there 

 is no doubt that the Coastal Plain can be made superior 

 to any other part of our country. 



To recapitulate. The total of these cut-over lands in 

 the coast states of the South, from Texas to North Caro- 

 lina, inclusive, was 108,500,000 acres, or an area larger 

 than the combined area of Alabama, Georgia and 

 Florida. On the lowest estimate, that of ten acres per 

 head of cattle, this 

 area would pasture 

 annually ten mil- 

 lion eight hundred 

 fifty thousand head 

 of cattle. Accord- 

 ing to the January 

 report of the De- 

 partment of Agri- 

 culture there are in 

 the United States a 

 total of milk cows 

 and other cattle of 

 68, 1 32,000 valued at 

 $3,936,256,000. By 

 the same statistics 

 there is in the 

 Coastal Southern 

 States which have been considered in this article a total 

 of milk cows and cattle of 12,744,000 distributed as 

 follows : North Carolina, 722,000 ; South Carolina, 460,- 

 000; Georgia, 1,232,000; Florida, 1,101,000; Alabama, 

 1,244,000; Mississippi, 1,287,000; Louisiana, 1,102,000; 

 Texas, 5,596,000. 



The cut-over lands in the Coastal Plain of the Southern 

 States can be made to furnish pasture to carry one-sixth 

 of the total cattle now in the United States, and five- 

 sixths of the total number now in the Coastal States of 

 the south from Texas to North Carolina, inclusive. At 

 the same time three-fifths of these now idle lands could 

 also be made to grow timber at the rate of ten thousand 



GOATS ON CUT OVER LANDS 



Another use to which cut over land has been put by the Great Southern Lumber Company at 



Bogalusa, Louisiana. 



board feet per acre at the end of a timber rotation of 

 fifty years provided that lumber is desired instead of pulp 

 wood. In the meantime there would be the income from 

 the several turpentine operations that could be carried 

 on during this rotation. 



Therefore, this is a problem that appeals to the nation 

 for help in its solution and the solution can only be reach- 

 ed by a vigorous co-operative state and national policy 

 that aims to find the right man to handle every acre of 

 this cut-over land in accordance with its site and soil 

 demands and protect him in his business by enforcing 

 the laws against fence-cutters and fire-starters. The 

 first step, therefore, would be a forest and soil survey of 

 every acre so that no mistake might be made in trying 



to do something for 

 which neither the 

 soil nor the climate 

 is adapted. The sec- 

 ond step would be 

 for the Government 

 to broaden the 

 Farm Loan Act so 

 that financial as- 

 sistance could be 

 extended to the 

 men engaged in 

 converting a waste 

 area into forests 

 and fields that 

 would produce food 

 and shelter for one- 

 sixth of the entire 

 population of the United States. How much such assist- 

 ance would accomplish can be measured by what has been 

 done in the South in the last ten years without Gov- 

 ernment financial assistance. The increase in cattle has 

 been thirty per cent since 1910 and in hogs nearly 

 seventy-five per cent. 



Of twenty leading hog producing states ten are south- 

 ern. Georgia is in the forefront with a total of 

 3,165,000 swine and is surpassed by only six northern 

 states. Furthermore, in 1910 there was not a packing 

 house on the Coastal Plain from Norfolk to New 

 Orleans. Today there is a packing house in nearly every 

 two hundred miles of this territory. 



jl/T M. BURRIS, formerly City Forester of Trenton, 

 1tJ. j,t j ^ nas res ig ne( ] t0 become one of the firm of 

 Black, Burris & Fiske, Inc., consulting landscape archi- 

 tects and foresters, with offices in the Broad Street Bank 

 Building, at Trenton. Mr. Burris acted as City Forester 

 for Trenton for more than two years, and his work dur- 

 ing that time speaks for itself. He carries with him the 

 best wishes of many friends for success in his new field 

 of endeavor. 



'"PHE following applied for life membership in the 

 * American Forestry Association in March and were 

 elected : 



Julian Wood, Pennsylvania; William R. Webster, 

 Pennsylvania; Mrs. Hallie Davis, Elkins, District of 

 Columbia; Mrs. Z. Chafee, Rhode Island; Pine Tree 

 Manufacturing Company, Minnesota, and George E. 

 Matthies, Connecticut. 



