er a ER eee 
F-. i a ~ 
PROFITS FROM FARM WOODS 11 
Because the land is near town and is valuable for building lots, 
the owner is turpentining the trees. (Fig. 6.) There are 309 
cups for which he received 15 cents each, or $46.35 per acre. The 
lease is to run for three years. ‘This amount is the return for a total 
of 17 years of the growth of the stand. There are 20 cords of wood 
per acre at the present time that will net the owner $2.50 each, or $50. 
The returns already in hand and those which appear certain amount 
to $96.35, which is an average, over 17 years, of $5.67 return per acre 
yearly. 
“Timber is the greatest investment I know of,” said Mr. Crow- 
martie. Another significant statement of his is: 
I’ve got slash pine timber I’ve worked for turpentine steady for 27 years. 
The Herrington farm near here has worked 200 acres of pine in turpentine for 
about 25 years—there has been no fire on either tract in that time. 
IN MISSISSIPPI 
An example of the gross return that may be obtained from a vol- 
unteer crop of slash pines on an old field 1s given by Z. W. Zink, a 
farmer, and former manager of the local farm bureau of Pascagoula, 
Jackson County. : 
The tract of land of about 114 acres was last cropped in 1905. 
In 1925, Mr. Zink sold all the merchantable pine on the old field for 
$2.50 per cord in the tree or on the stump. The purchaser cut 42 
cords on the tract which he afterwards sold to a paper company lo- 
cated in the same county. Thus in a period of 21 years the land 
had yielded the owner a gross income of $105 or a yearly average of 
about $5 per acre. The only money outlay had been for taxes, about 
15 cents yearly, or a total of $3.15. 
IN LOUISIANA 
Henry Keller of LaCombe, St. Tammany Parish, La., cut 18 cords 
of fuel wood from one-third of an acre on his farm. These trees 
were slash pine 20 years old. ‘The local stumpage, or value on the 
stump, was 50 cents per cord. It cost $2 per cord to cut and haul 
the wood, and the wood sold at the brick kiln in Slidell, La., for 
$3.50 a cord. The amount received for the wood delivered was $63. 
Figured on a per acre basis, the stand yielded at the rate of 54 cords 
per acre, or an average rate of growth of slightly over 214 cords per 
acre per year. At 50 cents stumpage this means a money return in 
stumpage of $1.25 yearly; in labor for cutting and hauling, $5; and 
in clear profit on the transaction, $2.50; or a total of $8.75 yearly. 
The farmer harvests his cotton, corn, and potatoes, and so far as 
possible should harvest his timber products. 
LOBLOLLY PINE—A GOOD INVESTMENT 
THINNING PINES IN EASTERN VIRGINIA 
The pamphlets received have been of interest to me and some assistance in 
caring for a considerable acreage of loblolly pine. I have taken out systemati- 
cally each year all the trees that were crowding and have also taken out all the 
crooked and worthless trees of every variety, and have protected the whole from 
fire. The pine has made wonderful growth, and it is a real pleasure to watch 
it. I have gotten enough profit out of the piling from trees that were crowd- 
ing to pay carrying charges on the whole, and I think I can continue to do So. 
(Krom a letter written by R. E. Thrasher, Norfolk, Va.) 
