The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-13
RI. pine Forest. Of the sestA.

Al the last session OF Inc Acxss"uS Va
georgia resolution was passed, whereby tne
senators and Representatives. OF tnat Ssate In |
Congress were Instructed 70 move for the mp. |
,.o,ntment OF . Commissioner TO define the |
iirni,s and extent Of this Southern pine belt |
and to report also upon the PROBABLE term Of
tts duration under the present rates Of deple-
ton. So wanton and prodigaL, II 10 said, has
been the waste Of timber, that, "where twenty
years before there waa an unbroken pine for
est now, Ia places, there Is scarcely timber
enough for fencing"
Few persons have any idea Of the vast COM
msrciai importance Of the pine forest of the
South The annual value of the hewn timber,
Of the sawed plank, boards, soantiing, rosin,
pitch and turpentipe, 10 estimated 10 BE- not
less, In the aggregate, than from twelve to mr.
team millions Of dollars; while it is impossi-
BILE TO compute the yearly loss by :. aste In
xirdIink trees that are the growth Of centuries,
for the purpose OF opening up new planta-
lions, or extending the area of those already
WORRIED. The wanton destruction Of this VAL
uab,e timber which has been going on for
soms wears past, has ELECTED q strong protest
from a writer in the Savannah Republican,
who calls attention to the fact that the exports
Of yellow pine are annually diminishing, and
expresses the opinion that unless more care is
taken in future to preserve the growing tim
Dor and protect the owners Of 1t against the
encroachments OF "piraticai" squatters, the
pine forests Of the South will be rapidly swept
away Ar an introd uction to the comments
which are made upon this subject, and to the
statistical tables which are presented as sus-
tanning his views, the writer thus defines what
he terms the 'sbounds of the Pine Belt"
Upon map of the United States, let a line be
dsra from sss Bay ansoe5n and
Columbia, in South Carolina to polnt hye miles
sSss Aa.ss sso old ON Flint
Coiumbue-thenoe across the Southern part oil Al.
9 sad not banndy
stretching from this to the ocean on the Eas, ana
as tho Pm. Bs OF the
The Baltimore Exchange mentions an i'm
portant omission in tho above description of
the limits of the pine region Of the South
Lying west Of the Mississippi, and principal
~ between the Ouachitra and Red rivers, in
in the State Of Arkansas, there is an immense
area Of pine forest upon which the axe of the
woodsman has scarcely, as yet, made any per-
ceptible impression. Apart from this, how
ever, adds the Exchange, and looking only TO
the Pine Belt east Of the Mississippi, the state
ments con tanned in the article referred to are
we'll calculated to impress upon the people OF
the Gulf States the necessity of securing from
future waste species Of timber which Gov.
TRouP, of Georgia, predicted would become,
at no distant, of more value, acre for acre
than the product of the best cotton lands
The remark is very pertinently made that
climber is not like cotton and rice, an annual
growth. 1t requires centuries to mature, and
when the forest is once culled over, the crop
IL forever gathered" II Is said to take from
Cos, al fnr MI fraa 4.
attain size sufficient for mast or spar of a
ship Of large size, and that even after lapse
Of four centuries, trees Of the requisite height
and dimensions for such purposes are only to
be found in soils and situations peculiarly
favorable to their growth. Under these cir
cumstances, it becomes a matter of interest to
know what portions of the pine belt have al
ready been culled of its choicest timber within
the State Of Georgia alone.
"Commencing on the Savannah, all the forests
bordering on that river has been cned over for a
been cullsd for distance of miles on each side
IF the Oseechee nver and Central Road and for
and Choopee rivers, and for a distance of s,sht OF
ten miles on each side Of the Altsmaha; and for sig
rivers. Distractions near the mouths of the San
tllas have prevented Iahs from, descending, and
from sharing the same fate as that on all the other
streams"
From this statement the conclusion is drawn
that the fields from which Savannah has here
tofore received her supplies, twill have been
cleaned over In the course Of a few years-the
sources drained, and that the Savannah and
Gulf Railroad will be the only avenue left by
which she is to obtain her supplies of this i'm
pcrtant article Of commerce" The decrease
In the supply Of hewn timber shown at all
the ports Of the United States is indicated in
the following table: