1901. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



0/ 



grass has been missed, one finds many 

 seedlings of a year's growth. Further- 

 more, where there is a spot which, for 

 some reason, has escaped fire during a 

 series of years, one finds a close stand and 

 most beautiful growth of young Longleaf 

 or "Orchard Pine " as it is called (Fig. 4). 

 Even these young patches have a constant 

 struggle with fire on their borders. I re- 

 cently saw one where the fire had invaded 

 the outer ranks and singed all the leaves 

 except the terminal tuft. Thanks to the 

 resistant qualities of this species when 

 young, this fiery treatment had not killed 

 them. The periodic recurrence of this 

 burning off of grass and debris on both cut 

 and uncut pinelands is a most familiar and 

 certain phenomenon. That it should keep 

 the land bare of young pines is as true as 

 that former prairie areas now timbered 

 were kept free from woody vegetation so 

 long as the heavy grass covering was 

 burned over periodically. The cases are 

 identical. If one wants to see the visor 

 with which woody species will gain ground 

 after the fire check has been removed, let 

 him contemplate the tide of chaparral that 

 is submerging the Rio Grande country. 



The question would next appear to be 

 what steps to take in order to give this re- 

 foresting energy a chance to express itself. 

 The answer is, of course, by all means 

 protect the seedlings from fire. This, 

 however, does not begin far enough back. 

 We must go back to the logging opera- 

 tions and change some things if the best 

 possible opportunity is to be given for re- 

 forestation within a brief enough time to 







make it profitable. This would necessi- 

 tate such changes as the following:: 







1. That not so much waste timber and 

 tops shall be left after logging. 



2. That poles and saplings shall not be 

 needlessly sacrificed in felling large trees. 



3. That young trees felled for a single 

 cross tie or two should be left to reach a 

 maturer growth. 



4. That old trees perhaps inferior for 

 lumber shall be left at sufficiently fre- 

 quent intervals to insure a uniform seeding 

 of the ground. 



The question as to whether the preven- 

 tion of all fires in virgin forests is wise is 



an open one. It is not there a question 

 of seedlings but of damage to old trees. 

 It is reasonably certain thai the annual 

 burning off of a light grass and pine straw 

 debris is not destructive of sound timber 

 in any considerable quantity (except where 

 some act, such as blazing 'a tree, or some 

 accident has exposed a wounded pitchy 

 surface), and it certainly appears to hold 

 in check the damage due to certain insects. 

 Moreover, unless fires could be prevei 

 with certainty (at present a most difficult 

 undertaking) they would break out just 

 when the accumulated debris of several 

 years would give them body enough to 

 destroy large timber. It must be said that 

 probably the same difficulty experienced 

 in preventing fires in virgin forests would 

 be experienced in the case of logged-over 

 lands where protection of seedlings was 

 aimed at. 



What, now, would be the lumberman's 

 attitude towards such a proposition as 

 would result from the foregoing condi- 







tions? We will assume that he, of all 

 men, is deeply interested in securing the 

 permanence of the longleaf forests. With 

 circumstances of risk, taxes, market de- 

 mand, and interest rates as they now are. 

 we believe he will say he could by no 

 means afford to so conduct his business as 

 to give the requisite conditions for seem- 

 ing reforestation and consequently succeeil- 

 ing cuts of timber. But if the State would 

 remove the risk of loss during reforesta- 

 tion and the taxes in large measure from 

 the land in its unproductive condition, 

 these things, together with the increased 

 price of longleaf timber and lands which 

 is sure to come in the future, might serve 

 to neutralize the present demands for im- 

 mature timber and warrant the sacrifice oi 

 interest in invested capital for a series oi 

 years. 



It is evident that, whatever is to be done. 

 the State must take the initiative. And it 

 is just to its interest to do this. With 

 it, it is not a question of immediate 

 financial profit, but of preserving the 

 proper balance between forest-, agricultu- 

 ral and grazing lands. The State could 

 not only enact and administer laws pro- 

 moting conservative lumbering among pri- 



