using industry. Farmers own about a fifth of this 
area; the remaining area is owned by people en- 
gaged in a wide variety of occupations. 
Among the private owners are naval stores and 
railroad operators, bankers, doctors, and local mer- 
chants. Some of these owners, of course, do recog- 
nize timber values, and make an effort to manage 
their land to realize these values. However, the pri- 
mary interest of most of these owners is not timber 
growing. They either are not aware of the potential 
returns from timber on their forest land or they 
are so absorbed in other occupations that they give 
little attention to timber growing. This lack of inter- 
est in managing their land for timber crops is re- 
flected by the kind of cutting being done on these 
ownerships. In 1945, two-thirds of the cutting on pri- 
vate ownerships, exclusive of lumber and pulp com- 
panies, was rated poor or destructive. 
In contrast, all of the cutting on pulp company 
Although cutting 
practices on land owned by lumber companies was 
land was rated fair or better.’ 
not so good as that on pulp company land, it was 
still substantially better than the cutting on owner- 
ships not associated with the wood-using industry. 
About half of the cutting on lumber-company land 
“was rated poor; very little of it was rated destructive. 
Forest land in public ownership amounts to about 
B23 million acres, or about 10 percent of the total 
area. Two million acres of this is in Federal owner- 
ship including the national forests, and 223,300 
acres is owned by the State. The remainder is in 
“Good cutting requires good silviculture that leaves the 
land occupied by desirable species in condition for vigorous 
growth in the immediate future. Fair cutting marks the be- 
ginning of cutting practices which will maintain on the land 
a reasonable stock of growing timber in species that are de- 
sirable and merchantable. Poor cutting leaves the land with 
limited means for natural reproduction, often in the form of 
poor-quality trees of undesirable species. Destructive cutting 
leaves the land without timber values and without means 
for natural reproduction. 
) The Timber Supply Situation in Florida 
county and municipal ownership. In 1945, two-thirds 
of the cutting on publicly owned land rated fair or 
better; most of the remainder was poor. 
Land ownership affects not only cutting practices 
but also other practices that have a bearing on 
timber production. While other uses are permitted 
on forest land owned by public agencies and forest 
industries, they are usually fitted into timber-pro- 
duction plans. An effort is made to prevent wild- 
fires. Grazing is usually controlled. Some companies 
have bought cattle to run on their own land in 
order to better control the burning done by others 
in connection with cattle raising. Others permit 
grazing only under provisions which stipulate the 
location and size of the area that can be burned 
annually to improve the range. 
Naval stores practices on these ownerships usually 
are not allowed to interfere with timber values. 
Only selective cupping is permitted on national 
forests. 
turpentining of their timber because of the difficulty 
Some forest industries refuse to allow any 
of insuring practices that will not damage the timber 
values. 
Forest industries and public agencies own but a 
fifth of the forest land, yet during the 1949-50 tree- 
planting season they planted 59 percent of the total 
area planted in Florida. The proportion of forest 
land in this class of ownership has increased since 
1945. Pulp and paper companies in particular have 
added large acreages to their holdings. 
It appears likely that with the increased awareness 
of timber values, many private owners not associated 
with forest industries have improved their forest 
practices since 1945. However, there still remains the 
difficult task of getting many thousands of small 
owners with a wide variety of interests to recognize 
the potential returns from their timberlands and to 
adjust their management practices accordingly. 
