LONGLEAF PINE. 5 
wood. Under " Cutting" the subject of thinning is discussed. Oper- 
ators of turpentine have learned that second growth serves the 
purpose. Over considerable sections of the yellow pine region the 
lumber industry is now working on second growth. 
Extensive areas in the South will not be put to their best use until 
they are growing well-stocked stands of young timber. It is in- 
conceivable that a section of the country with such a vast area of 
natural forest soil could continue for any length of time in a state 
One sawmill, that cuts mostly longleaf pine, re- 
quires daily the timber from about 100 acres, or yearly 
that from about 25,000 acres. About 6,000,000 acres of 
longleaf pine timber land, it is estimated, are cut in 
this country yearly, and about 4,000,000 acres are left 
fire-swept and practically idle. Is it not time steps 
were taken to remedy this situation? It is not a 
question of decreasing the rate of cutting the timber, 
but rather of stopping fire devastation and putting 
the nonproducing acres to work. Millions of acres 
of lands now denuded and nonproductive should be 
growing trees of use and value. 
The supplies of coal, petroleum, and iron are lim- 
ited, but not so with wood. A forest is not a thing 
to be exploited and then abandoned, but a property 
that under right management can be made to yield 
fair annual dividends in perpetuity. 
Lumber should be among the cheapest of com- 
modities, since with adequate forethought and care 
the forest becomes, like the air, water, and soil, an 
inexhaustible resource, 
of prosperity with timber growing largely eliminated. Any 
sound economic policy for the region calls for the right use of 
the present ' forest resources and also for the adoption of public 
measures which will insure an income from all lands and a perma- 
nent supply of the raw products so essential to the progress and pros- 
perity of the people. Cut-over forest land can be made to produce 
another forest as good or better than the original one. It thus fol- 
lows that the use of timber and the reproduction of timber can go 
hand in hand, provided, of course, that the right steps are taken in 
accordance with the natural laws of tree growth. 
