88 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Mr. N. Buckner, Secretary of the Ashe- 

 ville Board of Trade, summed up the 

 situation, when he said: 



"We realize that timber, foliage, soil 

 and water form the basis of all natural 

 resources, and really govern the value 

 of money. The man-made value of 

 money depends absolutely on these 

 three natural resources, and the preserva- 

 tion of the forests on the peaks of the 



Young Trees Burned, 

 here is a fine growth of spruce and balsam destroy 

 fire which ate deep into the soil. 



Appalachian mountains, especially Mt. 

 Mitchell and nearby peaks, is really a 

 matter of vast vital concern to the 

 people of the commonwealth of North 

 Carolina and the whole United States. 

 It is earnestly to be hoped that the 

 people of the nation will rise up in a 

 strong sentiment against the future 

 forest devastation of the monarch of 

 the east, Mt. Mitchell. Already forest 

 fires have burned over the cut-over 



area and several crown or tree-top fires 

 have resulted, and the whole area cut 

 now presents a scene of unutterable 

 desolation and blank ruins." 



The Honorable Locke Craig, Governor 

 of North Carolina, is one of the leaders 

 in the movement to bring about some 

 action which will check the destruction 

 of the forests on Mt. Mitchell, and, in 

 his address to the North Carolina 

 Forestry Association, on Jan- 

 uary 13th, he dealt largely with 

 the proposition that the State 

 purchase the area on the top 

 of Mt. Mitchell for the pur- 

 pose of preserving at least a 

 part of the virgin forest near 

 and including the summit of 

 the mountain. The Governor 

 realizes that the lumber com- 

 pany, which has purchased 

 practically all of the spruce 

 timber on the Black Moun- 

 tains including Mt. Mitchell, 

 has an actual right, although, 

 perhaps, not a moral right, to 

 both destroy the forest and 

 burn over the land. Although 

 a man in a city is not permit- 

 ted, by law, to set fire to his 

 house, for fear that the con- 

 flagration would destroy ad- 

 joining property, a man owning 

 forest land is permitted to 

 burn this land over even though 

 the burning will cause the 

 destruction of the soil, flooding 

 of farms below in the valley 

 after heavy rains, and the de- 

 struction of other property. 

 "I tell you," said the Gov- 

 ernor, "the lumbermen and 

 I am not criticising them, but 

 us the lumbermen are de- 

 stroying North Carolina. We 

 cannot expect them to sacrifice their 

 business for the public good. They have 

 bought that timber. They are entitled 

 to every stick of it. If the people of 

 North Carolina want to save it they 

 must do so. They cannot expect the 

 lumbermen to save it; they must save 

 it themselves. They must save it 

 from the fire that follows the lumberman. 

 "If I can lend anv mite of influence 



ED BY A 



to this movement for the protection of 



