i38 



THE FORESTER. 



June, 



vate holders ; it could, and in my opinion, 

 ought, to become the owner and active 

 manager of all the logged-over land obtain- 

 able under reasonable terms, making of it 

 the forest reservation upon which could be 

 practiced a system of management looking 

 to the restoration of the Longleaf Pine, 

 such as would be an object lesson and 

 stimulus to private holders. It would be 

 all the better, also, if whatever remains of 

 unsold state and county-school pine lands 



should be placed under such regulations 

 that when our timber is sold from them it 

 should be removed in such a manner as to 

 leave the requisite conditions for forest 

 renewals. 



In any case, it appears to be evident that 

 the time is ripe for our State to organize 

 with reference not only to the longleaf for- 

 ests but to all its forests whether commer- 

 cial or protective. As we say now-a-days, 

 it is " up " to Texas to do something. 



FOREST CONDITIONS AND POSSIBILITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



By Burr J. Ramage, Ph.D. 

 Dean of the University of the South Law School. 



STRETCHING like a long thin piece 

 of ribbon from the great Appalachian 

 chain of mountains to the Mississippi 

 River, the rhomboidal-shaped state of Ten- 

 nessee, bv reason of its length and its 'gra- 

 dations of altitude, possesses topographical 

 features unlike those of the other American 

 commonwealths unless one should have 

 Kentucky in mind and a climate of the 

 most varied description imaginable. 

 Largely to the influence of these natural 

 characteristics may be traced an almost 

 endless variety of soils, numerous navi- 

 gable streams, and a majority of the spe- 

 cies of timber to be found in the United 

 States. For the sand and clay of west 

 and middle Tennessee, no less than the 

 limestone formation of east Tennessee, 

 produce forests whose value is only sur- 

 passed by those of Georgia and the Caro- 

 linas, although the destructive system of 

 lumbering, which has been in vogue ever 

 since the day of the pioneer, bids fair to 

 ruin one of the greatest resources of the 

 State, and one too, that is the natural 

 heritage of the public. 



Legislation there is, to be sure, against 

 the willful, causeless and wanton firing of 

 woods and the stereotyped Arbor Day has 

 been adopted ; but little beyond this has 

 been enacted either in the way of encour- 

 aging tree-planting, enforcing the preserv- 



ation of forests, or executing laws already 

 on the statute books. Private initiative and 

 activity have, however, in a measure 

 remedied some of the most glaring defects 

 in governmental administration, and in 

 numerous instances the farmers display un- 

 usual wisdom and foresight in such mat- 

 ters as the cutting down of trees and the 

 clearing of new lands. But much remains 

 to be done. First of all there is crying 

 need of a more general and intelligent in- 

 terest in the matter of forest preservation, 

 and in this work we shall have to look to 

 the patriotic press of Tennessee which has 

 already done so much in this direction. 



Any practical suggestions along these 

 lines must be based, of course, on a com- 

 prehensive knowledge of our forest re- 

 sources ; but, unfortunately, this is not ob- 

 tainable at the present time. No committee 

 seems ever to have been appointed by the 

 legislature either for the purpose of recom- 

 mending desirable forest legislation or for 

 obtaining those facts on which such sugges- 

 tions must necessarily be based. Informa- 

 tion of the nature just indicated ought natu- 

 rally to embrace a forest survey, such as that 

 recently undertaken by the State of Wis- 

 consin, and a general description of the 

 topography, soils, climate, drainage and 

 river-systems of the State. It might also 

 go so far as to include a description of 



