373 REPORT OP THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



in the willingness of a large number of private owners to cooperate fully, and 

 contribute freely towards cooperative fire association work. While in some cases 

 nothing will be done beyond fire protection, every owner, whether East or West, 

 who takes an interest in fire protection work, is taking the first step towards the 

 practice of private forestry. 



PRIVATE EORESTRY IN THE NORTHEAST. 



In the Northeast the most notable advance towards private forestry in addi- 

 tion to fire protection, has been taken by the large pulp and paper companies. 

 Here again German forestry' methods are not practiced, because they would not 

 pay ; but definite provision is being made for producing successive crops of timber 

 to supply the large permanent pulp mills, and the tendency is strongly towards the 

 consolidation and long time management of holdings, advantageously located from 

 the standpoint of transportation and forest conditions, for the permanent produc- 

 tion of pulpwood. In the same general region many small owners have already 

 reaped a good profit from growing and utilizing second growth timber, particularly 

 white pine ; and while most of these operations are on too small a scale to mate- 

 rially contribute to the needs of the country, the aggregate of such operations is 

 too large to be ignored. If it would pay to cut within the last ten years second 

 growth timber which was forty or fifty years old, it will certainly pay much better 

 to start new growth now for cutting fifty years hence. 



In the Southern pine region, natural forest conditions are in many places 

 favorable for private forestry, although up to the present very little has been done 

 even in the way of fire protection. Conditions are favorable to the extent that 

 young growth comes up very readily where fire is kept out, transportation facilities 

 are good, and logging costs are comparatively low. The principal drawback is the 

 slow rate of growth of the longleaf pine, but in many regions this species can be re- 

 placed with trees which come into maturity much faster. 



In the yellow pine region of Texas a lumber company, with very large hold- 

 ings, has been quietly operating for some years with a view of producing succes- 

 sive crops f ronii the same land, and apparently finds that it pays. In South Caro- 

 lina another concern investigated thoroughly the possibilities along this line and 

 found that 100,000 acres of land on which loblolly pine predominated would pro- 

 duce, under a regular system of cutting, the normal mill output of 30 million feet 

 annually for all time. The methods which would produce this result were followed 

 for a short time and promised to work out successfully ; but owing to some dif- 

 ficulty in applying systematic fire preventive measures, the whole plan was aban- 

 doned. It nevertheless illustrates the possibilities, and it is probably safe to say 

 that systematic fire protection would have paid even if long-time management had 

 not been contemplated. 



In the Pacific Northwest organized fire preventive measures have been car- 

 ried farther than anywhere else, and the point has been reached where the fire 

 hazard no longer constitutes a bar to forest production. In the same region scien- 

 tific management is being applied in connection with saw-mill and logging opera- 

 tions, and a higher degree of efficiency in the manufacturing end will ultimately 



