EDITORIAL DIGEST 



561 



BE JUST AS MUCH A NECESSITY AS BEEF" 



swiftly in that part of the country within 

 the last two decades. 



To anyone judging conditions in the 

 United States purely on the basis of the 

 relative density of population, it may be 

 surprising to find that there are great 

 areas of land practically unoccupied and 

 out of use in sections where the population 

 figures run high. We speak of "the popu- 

 lous east," having the Atlantic seaboard 

 principally in mind, and often not even 

 the people most familiar with actual popu- 

 lation conditions there stop to realize what 

 an acreage of practically unproductive land 

 is still existent there, or what isolation is 

 still easily to be found in the blank spots 

 between the population centers. Massa- 

 chusetts, for example, as the State having 

 the greatest density of population of all 

 the states, has still whole townships of 

 vacant and virtually unproductive land. 

 So what Mr. Pack now points out is worth 

 noting, that the cutover lands, which mark 

 the site of what was once an enormous 

 forest of pine timber covering the coastal 

 plain of the southern states, constitute 30 

 per cent of the total area of these states, 

 or an acreage greater than the combined 

 area of Alabama, Florida and Georgia; 

 for it may be, as the forestry people are 

 saying, that in this unproductive acreage 

 is locked up the most important economic 

 problem that now confronts the people of 

 the United States. 



Certainly there is general interest in the 

 estimates of those who are calling atten- 

 tion to this matter. They say that these 

 cutover lands of the south, on the lowest 

 basis, would provide annual pasturage for 

 over 10,000,000 head of cattle. That would 

 be on a basis of about ten acres per head. 

 And all the cattle now in existence in the 

 United States number only about 68,132,000. 

 If the southern states can carry one-sixth 

 as many cattle as there are now in the 

 entire country, apparently somebody should 

 be getting busy about it, not only for the 

 sake of the country, but for the sake of the 

 south. And if three-fifths of these cutover 

 lands that are now idle can be made to 

 grow timber at the rate of 10,000 board 

 feet per acre at the end of a timber rota- 

 tion of fifty years, provided lumber and not 

 pulp wood is desired, it is time something 

 were done to start this new growth on its 

 way. What can be gained meanwhile from 

 turpentine operations, it appears, would 

 give some additional momentum to the 

 main purpo 



iurse the general direction and pro- 

 motion of this sort of thing should enlist 

 the attention and best activities of popular 



government. Federal and State authorities 

 have the best kind of opportunity for co- 

 operative action, first in a comprehensive 

 survey of the field, then in promoting the 

 occupation and use of the land by those 

 qualified to handle it intelligently, and then 

 in such protective legislation and law en- 

 forcement as would foster development in 

 accordance with the general economic pur- 

 pose. Som :thing has been accomplished 

 by private initiative in this territory within 

 the last few years. Thirty per cent more 

 cattle and 75 per cent more hogs are being 

 raised there now than were raised there 

 ten years ago. But these efforts are small 

 in view of the vast potentialities of the op- 

 portunity. Government co-operation seems 

 necessary if the waste lands of the south 

 are to be given their full economic effect. 



tourists. Trouble necessitates interest, and 

 that interest, it must be said, seems to be 

 rapidly coming up to the mark, so that we 

 may expect in time a Hall of Fame for 

 Trees of actual historic value, even greater 

 than its appeal to sentiment. 



Richmond Journal: As news of it spreads 

 about, the country's interest in the "Hall of 

 Fame for Trees," now being compiled by 

 the American Forestry Association, steadily 

 grows. The Hall has, by this time, many 

 candidates, among the more recently nomi- 

 nated being the "Great Tree on Boston 

 Common," around which the colonists as- 

 sembled for battle with the British, and 

 which was blown down in a storm in 1918. 

 "The Green Tree Hotel" at Le Claire, Iowa, 

 is also of receptive fame. This is an his- 

 toric elm, well known on the Mississippi 

 River, because it was a waiting place for 

 river men out of jobs and looking for trips. 

 Its age is believed to be 120 years. Many 

 Virginians to whom the old tree is a 

 familiar sight, will be interested to learn 

 that the Octopus tree, in Charles City 

 County, has been mentioned for a place as 

 the oldest and largest tree in the Old Do- 

 minion, and other candidates for this novel 

 hall of fame include the De Soto oak, at 

 Tampa, Florida, from which De Soto 

 started for the Mississippi; the two oaks 

 at Marlintown, West Virginia, marked in 

 1751 by General Andrew Lewis, and the 

 tallest tree in the Balkans, at Podgoritza, 

 nominated by the Red Cross, which had 

 headquarters near it through the war, and 

 from the naming of which it may be seen 

 that the American Forestry Association 

 does not intend to limit the honored ones to 

 native products. This is but just, though 

 America has enough to fill a respectable 

 list exclusively her own if we will but take 

 the trouble to look them up. For example, 

 the first citrus fruit tree ever planted in 

 Southern California, which now stands in 

 the courtyard of the Mission Inn at River- 

 side, protected by a tall iron railing from 

 the predatory instincts of unconscionable 



Jamestown, New York, Post: As the 

 forests disappear before the increasing pop- 

 ulation and the demands of industry, the 

 science of forestry is developing rapidly. 

 The national and State governments are 

 encouraging the study of trees as means of 

 preserving and distinguishing them. Trees 

 are the largest and finest product of vegeta- 

 tion; therefore, in addition to mere utili- 

 tarian purposes they are desirable for their 

 beauty. The American Forestry Associa- 

 tion is registering all memorial trees in a 

 national honor roll. This encourages plant- 

 ing of memorial trees. Those who cannot 

 visualize the future beauty of these roads 

 may wait long years to be impressed with 

 their magnificence. Then, perhaps, others 

 will begin to follow their example. Every 

 new highway of importance is an oppor- 

 tunity for expression of civic pride in this 

 way. Patriotic organizations of Jamestown 

 and Chautauqua County have not yet been 

 impressed with the idea of memorial trees, 

 yet there are opportunities on every hand 

 to place memorials to the honored dead, 

 so that every traveler cannot fail to see 

 and know and remember why the trees are 

 there. 



Ogden Standard: The announcement of 

 the American Forestry Association at 

 Washington to the effect that officers of .the 

 American Legion and of the Service Star 

 Legion in every State are planning to plant 

 memorial trees, recalls the claim made by 

 an Indian town that it has the most famous 

 street. 



There are five houses on Lincoln Street 

 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and from those 

 five houses went nine boys to the war for 

 humanty. 



There is a big tree on that street. It is 

 called the Dumont Kennedy elm and all 

 those nine boys played under that tree. In 

 commemoration of the service these boys 

 rendered in volunteering for trouble at the 

 Mexican border and later going to fight 

 abroad this tree has been dedicated as a 

 memorial. Senator James E. Watson made 

 an address in connection with the celebra- 

 tion held in the street. 



The American Forestry Association 

 wants to know if there are other trees with 

 a history for its Hall of Fame. After all 

 is said a tree makes a beautiful memorial 

 and the move to plant thousands of trees in 

 memory of brave men and women is highly 

 commendable. 



