LONGLEAF PINE. 5 



wood. Under " Cutting" the subject of thinning is discussed. Oper- 

 ators of turpentine have learned that second growth serves the 

 purpose. Over considerable sections of the yellow pine region the 

 lumber industry is now working on second growth. 



Extensive areas in the South will not be put to their best use until 

 they are growing well-stocked stands of young timber. It is in- 

 conceivable that a section of the country with such a vast area of 

 natural forest soil could continue for any length of time in a state 



One sawmill, that cuts mostly longleaf pine, re- 

 quires daily the timber from about 100 acres, or yearly 

 that from about 25,000 acres. About 6,000,000 acres of 

 longleaf pine timber land, it is estimated, are cut in 

 this country yearly, and about 4,000,000 acres are left 

 fire-swept and practically idle. Is it not time steps 

 were taken to remedy this situation? It is not a 

 question of decreasing the rate of cutting the timber, 

 but rather of stopping fire devastation and putting 

 the nonproducing acres to work. Millions of acres 

 of lands now denuded and nonproductive should be 

 growing trees of use and value. 



The supplies of coal, petroleum, and iron are lim- 

 ited, but not so with wood. A forest is not a thing 

 to be exploited and then abandoned, but a property 

 that under right management can be made to yield 

 fair annual dividends in perpetuity. 



Lumber should be among the cheapest of com- 

 modities, since with adequate forethought and care 

 the forest becomes, like the air, water, and soil, an 

 inexhaustible resource. 



of prosperity with timber growing largely eliminated. Any 

 sound economic policy for the region calls for the right use of 

 the present forest resources and also for the adoption of public 

 tneasures which will insure an income from all lands and a perma- 

 nent supply of the taw products so essential to the progress and pros- 

 perity of the people. Cut-over forest land can be made to produce 

 another forest as good or better than the original one. It thus fol- 

 lows that the mm- of timber and the reproduction of timber can go 

 hand in hand, provided, of course, that the right steps are taken in 

 accordance with the natural laws of Iwi' growth. 



