New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-10

depths of snow. To stnp their HANKS OF pro-
tecting trees and shrubs is to encourage floods
to wash every particle of loose earth into the
valleys, and scour the rocky skeletons of these
long ranges bare.
The long-leaved yellow pine, which extends
in O coast belt from Virginia to the middle OF
Texas, yields o strong and lasting timber, and
is altogether the most valuable OF the pines
for heavy construction. out its wood is pitchy
and hard to work. The short-leaved yell
low pine, which abounds in Arkansas, and is
found in considerable quantities elsewhere
along the maritime belt, is more easily
wrought but it lacks the strength of the
long-eaved pine and the finer qualities of the
white pine. No product of Southern pineries
can take the place of tho wood we have
squandered, but it is somewhat consoling to be
informed by Professor Sargent that the sup
DIV Is greater than had been estimated, or
rather guessed at, heretofore, for the first
trustworthy data on the subject have been
furnished by these bulletins. Along the
southern Atlantic coast some twenty-five
billions of feet is counted standing, although
much of it has been damaged in the manu-
facture of pitch products. Forty billions OF
feet stand in Alabama and Mississippi, while
in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas stand
1910. 600 100000 feet or more than twice
the amount of the available white
pine supply in Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Michigan, the final reserve. area upon
which the country is now drawing. 1t seems
inevitable that these great lumber fields west
of the Mississippi will soon advance New
Orleans to the position now held by Chicago
as the leading lumber market Of the country
Tens Of thousands of square miles of pine and
hard wood which have never vet been invaded
by the. logger stand here fully grown and
ready for the axe. But there Will be use for
it all. Europe and the Northern States are
already asking for it, and the vast timberless
area between the BrazOs and Sierra Nevada
must look to these forests alone for supply.
How long will it last 7 The annual fires which
are kindled by scattered settlers to rage through
these open woods may help to furnish pasture
for few fororn cattle but they destroy every
seeding tree and of course kill every hope of
a permanent timber yield. Unless this prac-
tice is abandoned and some care taken to
encourage the growth of young trees 1t Will be
only question of a few years more or less
before the pine woods of Louisiana and Arkan-
sas go the way of the pine woods of Pennsyl-
vania.
Forestry Bulletin No. II, in which n few
green spots appear on the map of Pennsylva-
mia, scattered over great brown area of cut
pine is an instructive one. To the early lum-
herman this forest wealth seemed inexhaust-
IDLE. But it is all swept clean. and in the vast
territory to the west of him, which seemed to
stretch away in illimitable woods, the days OF
every tree are already numbered And yet as
has already been pointed out in these columns,
by observing a few natural laws profitable
crop of white pine could have been harvested
every year for centuries to come. To-day the
South has the same opportunity which was
offered to the North fifty years ago. VIII she
profit by the record of our follyf These
255, 900, 900, 900 of feet of standing pine must
prove in the near future an important element
in her material prosperity. How long will it
continue important BY preserving the sources
of her forest wealth the South may lay the
foundations of prosperity which steam-mills
will not ruin in score of years. but which
will endure while trees are needed to supply
the wants of man.