FUTURE VALUE OF LONG-LEAF PINE FORESTS. 



69 



those of Texas, will have seen their best days in less than twenty 

 3^€ars. 



The Report of the U. S. Division of Forestry for 1891 describes 

 the pine lands of eastern Texas and western Louisiana as follows:* 

 In the center of the region above the Red river, pine ridges alter- 

 nate with tracts of oak and hickory. Toward the Red river the 

 forests covering the undulating pine lands remain practically 

 unbroken to the Sabine river. On the east side of the Red river 

 the area is estimated at 1,625,000 acres, exteiiding northward an 

 average distance of fifty-five miles, cutting from 4,000 to 6,000 feet 

 to the acre, with no change in character to Trinity river in Texas. 

 In that State the forests of long-leaf pine cover about 5,000 square 

 miles, merging toward the north into the region of short-leaf, 

 toward the south into vast forests of loblolly pine. The fact that 

 but little tapping for turpentine has been practiced in this region 

 may be of importance from a market point of view. 



Forests suitable for the manufacture of turpentine, being sub- 

 ject to a triple destruction, will probably give out some time before 

 those suitable for lumber will. Turpentine orchards of long-leaf 

 pine are destroyed by being lumbered, by natural exhaustion from 

 continued tapping and by fires ; and their trunks being weakened 

 by boxes the trees are more liable to blow over by the winds. 

 They are renewed only to an inconsiderable extent by regrowth. 

 The rate of destruction by each of these agencies has been yearlj- 

 increasing, and has not yet reached its maximum limit. 



FUTURE VALUE OF LONG-LEAF PINE FORESTS. 



The future value of a forest of long-leaf pine as a source of lum- 

 ber is based on these facts. Long-leaf pine wood, even after it has 

 been tapped for turpentine, which has no effect on any of the heart 

 wood except to a slight extent those parts immediately in contact 

 with the faces of the boxes, is much stronger than any other of our 

 pines; and it is especially durable in contact with the soil or when 

 exposed to alternating conditions of being wet or dry. As these 

 qualities of the timber become recognized the}' will much increase 



*Annual Report Secretary of Agriculture, 1891, p. 216. 



