108 



FORESTS, FOREST LANDS AND FOREST PRODUCTS. 



There has been a considerable increase in the vahie of loblollr 

 pine stumpage since it has entered the general lumber market. 

 Twenty years ago loblolly lands ranged in value from 50 cents to 

 $1 per acre, according to situation in relation to transportation 

 facilities and density of growth. Land similarly situated and 

 timbered now sells from $1 to $5 an acre. Original growth lob- 

 lolly lands will cut from 3,500 to 6,000 feet, board measure, to the 

 acre; second growth from a third to a half less. 



STATISTICS OF THE LVMBER INDUSTRY. 



The statistics for this report on the saw-mill and forest industries^ 

 of eastern North Carolina were collected in connection with an 

 investigation of the timber lands of this section, which has just 

 been completed. It is intended more to show the condition of the 

 various branches of the lumber and allied industries, in respect to 

 output and supply, than to give a general treatment of the different 

 departments of the aggregated interests. In this connection there 

 are but imperfect statistics for comparison, these being chiefly esti- 

 mates prepared for lumber journals. 



The area treated of embraces forty-three counties, which constitute 

 the original " long-leaf pine belt" of North Carolina and to which, 

 according to the U. S. Census of 1880, four-fifths of the milling 

 interests of the State were at that time confined. In this enumera- 

 tion are contained the products of all saw-mills and planing-mills, 

 whether operated in connection with saw-mills or as distinct estab- 

 lishments, excepting entirely local planing-mills and door, sash 

 and blind factories connected with these or distinct. There are in 

 this section ten such local planing-mills and blind factories, which 

 have an output with an estimated value of between |100,000 and 

 $250,000 per annum. In spite of the fact that the latter half of 

 the year 1893 was an era of business depression, and consequently 

 there was a curtailed output, there is a marked increase shown in 

 the value of the output of 1893 over that of both 1890 and 1880, 

 according to the census reports for those years. 



The value of rough and remanufactured lumber, including 

 shingles, produced in this ''long-leaf pine belt" of North Carolina 



