NORTH CAROLIjN^A FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 37 



at their original cost price, losing one-half of the capital, which had been 

 used up in expenses. 



Do we want forests? Yes. Not only because of their economic value in 

 furnishing fuel, crossties, and material for building and for the manufacture 

 of furniture; but because they help to regulate the rainfall and conserve the 

 water supply, which is essential to the prosperity of the agriculturist; and 

 because the forests have a favorable influence on the climate, making it more 

 equable by protecting the country against the sweep of cold winds. 



In an article written by W. J. McGee, which appeared in a recent issue of 

 the World's Work, it is made clear that the power of this country to support 

 a very large population, one billion, with comfort, is directly measurable by 

 the amount of available water supply — namely, the annual rainfall and that 

 stored under the surface of the earth. He says: "The limit of our capacity 

 for production and population lies not in the land or its living forms — both 

 susceptible of immeasurable improvement — but in the supply of water on 

 which life depends; for without water there are no plants, no soils, no 

 animals, no men, no intelligence to control lower nature." 



With the abundance of rainfall which we have in North Carolina, the great 

 future of the country undoubtedly lies in the direction of intensive farming. 

 If it is water and not land which sets the limits to population, and the chief 

 feature in preserving our water supply is the care of our forests, then indeed 

 we must handle this problem without delay. Twenty-five acre-feet of water 

 per year on five acres of land will enable a family of five persons to support 

 themselves with comfort and contribute to the support of an equal number 

 of persons engaged in manufacturing or other kinds of work. With ample 

 water, in other words, five acres will yield an easier living than 640 acres, or 

 a square mile, on the plains; and eastern North Carolina will support easily 

 one person per acre. In Holland there is a section where five hundred people 

 are comfortably supported on fifty acres of land. 



I wish I had the eloquence to demonstrate convincingly that because of this 

 fact of abundant rainfall we of North Carolina live in one of the most favored 

 spots on the globe; but we are not rising to the level of our natural surround- 

 ings. We are allowing generation after generation to go by and miss this 

 miraculous opportunity. It seems that we must suffer by falling short of 

 our birthright. It is common sense to proceed along the lines of least re- 

 sistance, and to do the thing which can be done to greatest advantage. 



We have met to consider ways of protecting the forests. It is obvious that 

 forest fires must be avoided, and that ranging cattle and hogs must first be 

 stopped. 



The United States Department of Agriculture and the State Department 

 make clear to us the great loss of profits to the farmer from tick fever and 

 cholera, which are directly due to permitting scrub cattle and woods hogs to 

 run at large. This information is interesting; but to be valuable we should 

 apply the real remedy, which is the adoption of a State-wide stock law. If 

 some of our farmers in certain sections are still too ignorant to be alive to 

 their best interests, it is the duty of those who do understand this to insist 

 that our Legislature shall take care of this matter. A development in one 

 progressive line assists every other, and I think nothing will do more to help 

 drainage projects, the building of good roads, better education, better home 



