472 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



October 



iness measure, but the opportunity of- 

 fered for good returns from careful 

 and conservative forest management 

 is a peculiarly favorable one. The for- 

 est contains valuable timber trees, 

 which not only command a high price 

 at present, but are rapidly increasing 

 in value for the lack of satisfactory 

 substitutes, notably in the case of black 

 walnut, cherry, hickory, yellow poplar, 

 and white oak. The transport of tim- 

 ber presents some difficulties, as in 

 all mountain countries. These are, 

 however, seldom sufficient to impair 

 seriously the profits from lumbering. 

 Effective protection from fire is prac- 

 ticable without prohibitive expense, 

 while in its rate of growth, readiness 

 of reproduction, and responsiveness to 

 good treatment, the forest offers sil- 

 vicultural opportunities which are sel- 

 dom excelled in this country. 



Practical forestry in the Southern 

 Appalachians must comprise those 

 modifications of the present methods 

 of lumbering which will not only in- 

 sure a fair profit upon present opera- 

 tions, but will preserve the productive 

 capacity of the forest and provide for 

 the desired reproduction of the timber 

 trees. Unnecessary damage to the 

 forest and total lack of provision for 

 a future crop is characteristic of the 

 lumbering now carried on in this re- 

 gion. Logging operations have gen- 

 erally shown an inexcusable slovenli- 

 ness, as foreign to good lumbering as 

 to practical forestry. 



A clean lumber job is seldom seen, 

 mere is great waste of good timber 

 through poor judgment in gauging the 

 log lengths and in cutting stumps 

 much higher than is necessary. But- 

 ting off unsound portions of trees is 

 not always done ; trees not wholly per- 

 fect are sometimes left to rot where 

 they fall. Care is seldom taken to 

 throw trees where they will do the 

 least harm to themselves and to others, 

 and in consequence lodged and 

 smashed trees are very common. Over- 

 looked sound trees are also numerous. 



However, criticism of lumbering in' 

 the Southern Appalachians must take 



into consideration the circumstances 

 which led to it. Almost all of the 

 work has been done by the farmers of 

 the region in order to supply their fuel 

 and other household material and to 

 add to the poor living afforded them 

 by their farms. These men are often 

 hampered by lack of capital, are gen- 

 erally wanting in the knowledge re- 

 quisite to good lumbering, and have 

 had always to contend with the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining expert loggers to 

 carry out the work. Nevertheless, the 

 nearness of large bodies of merchant- 

 able timber, among which are valua- 

 ble kinds, such as cherry, black wal- 

 nut, hickory, and yellow poplar, has 

 usually made a fair profit possible un- 

 der even the most thriftless logging 

 methods. This desultory cutting has 

 been going on for years, and although 

 the individual efforts have been small, 

 they have removed the merchantable 

 timber from the larger portion of the 

 accessible forests. 



When the waning supplies of timber 

 in the north and east some fifteen years 

 ago forced the loggers of those re- 

 gions to the south, the application of 

 skillful and systematic methods of 

 lumbering began in the Southern Ap- 

 palachians. The newcomers, through 

 the investment of commensurate capi- 

 tal in logging outfits, the thorough 

 repair and extension of logging roads, 

 and the generally business-like mode 

 of attack characteristic of the trained 

 lumberman, have reaped a profit from 

 their operations entirely impossible un- 

 der the slipshod, desultory lumbering 

 methods of the settler. 



The harm done to the forest in both 

 cases is very great in proportion to the 

 quantity of lumber cut. This is due 

 largely to the size of the trees and the 

 fact that little care is taken in the fell- 

 ings. The damage to young growth 

 is increased by the absence of snow, 

 and by the fact that trees are often 

 cut when they are in full leaf. 



The breaking down and wounding 

 of seedlings and young trees by the 

 snaking of logs to the roadside or the 

 river is in some degree unavoidable : 





