Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-19
The S0nthern Timber SnnnlY

scattered belts across New Hampshire and
Vermont. Pine was one of the cheapest
and most abundant kinds Of lumber In those
days. Great trunks, out of which magnif
cent boards, three feet wide, straight
grained AID free from knots, could be
sawed, were worth only few dollars.
Some Of these boards are still to be seen In
the wsinscoting of old houses, 10 the high
backs OF old. fashioned Settles IN Golfers
chests and boxes of all kinds that
have stood undisturbed for two generations
in musty garrets. An occasional fest
growth pine is sill to be seen, standing,
venerable and solitary, upon New England
hillsi1es, and along the sandy valleys small
forests Of second growth pine sapliugs
will be seen. But, for the most part, New
England has been stripped of its pine tim
Der. Its builders and manufacturers of
doors, sash and blinds and cheap furniture
now use Western and Southern pine alto
gether. Yet the grandfathers of the pres
ent generation never for none tsusp C
ed that the supply Of pine timber in the
Eastern States would be exhausted
almost before they were laid In their
graves. They seem to have acted on the
supposition that 1t was permitted to man TO
ravage the forests at will, and that kind
nature would repair all the damages
The same process Of spolistion has for
years been going on In the pine forests Of
the lake region and the Northwest. New
England and the Middle States have long
been stripped of this timber, but as tbs
country grew In population and the demand
for it increased, saw mills were set up In the
new Western country, and for twenty years
lumber has been shipped thence eastward in
enormous quantities. But the clearing of the
land has Deen carried on with the same
reckless improvidence, no provision being
made for new growth to be made available
when the old trees shall all have been
felled, and the moment Of exhaustion Is at
hand. In twelve years, If the present rate
of consumption be kept up, we shall have
come to the end Of these vast Northwestern
pineries, and the lumber trade will be forced
to find some other field of supply.
1t is already evident that This new field
will be the South. In a vague way, 1t has
long been known that the yellow pine De-
of the South Is of greater extent than the
white pine region of the lakes. But the
forestry bulletins of the Census Department
give us definite Information on the subject
which has been heretofore lacking. There
is now in Louisiana over eighty-fOur billion
feet of good, marketable pine, or more than
the amount remaining at the end of the year
1880 in the States of Wisconsin, Michigan
and Minnesota. Besides its thousands of
square acres of splendid hard wood
forests, Arkansas has forty-one billion
feet OF yellow pine, and Texas is
credited with sixty-seven billion
feet. Together these three States contain
one hundred and ninety billion feet, which
is more than double the present available
supply in the three lake States. Bat it is
not alone in the States we have mentioned
that Southern pine Is to be found. The belt
begins IN Virginia and extends through n ne
States almost to the Brsz0s river. In all this
great belt 1t is estimated that there are at
least two hundred and fifty five billion feet
of marketable pine timber, a quantity suffi-
cient, at the present rate Of consumption,
to last the country some two hun
dred and fifty yeas. Already the
Northern lum5ermen are moving
their saw mill plants into this
Southern belt and preparing TO repeat there
their ceVastl'iDg exploits in he Northwest.
Ia Eastern Tennessee the work is hut Just
beginniDg, but for some years Georgia
pine" has been growing more and more
common as a building material in all parts
OF the North, and has even become an arti-
Gle of export, figuring In increasing quaDti-
ties each year in the tables Of statistics
Already the note of warning is sounded
from the pine forests of Georgia. In the
four States of North aud South Carolina
Georgia and Florida, there are but twenty
four billion feet of pine. Wherever railways
or navigable streams pierce the fores S,
the timber in these States has
been cut eff and shipped
n nth or exported. An irresistible CONNER
cial law, far stronger than any mere senti-
mental desir.. for the preservation
or perpetuation of 70 es's, ordains
that this process shall continue. In Geor-
gia, Line timber Is worth from eight
to ton dollars per tht usa d feet; saw into
two and one half inch fl boring, and placed
in the New York market, it is worth thirty
five dollars per thousand. There is In. the
figures a temptation not to be resisted. In
the year 1880, three hundred million feet OF
pine lumber, worth at the prices then pre-
vailiDg five mIllions Of dollars, were sawed
out In Georgia. There are about eight hun
dred feet in one tree. Along the line of
one railroad in Southern Georgia there are
nine large saw mills, with capacity for
saving out three hundred and thirty eight
thousand feet per day. These mills clear
in one year over sixty thousand acres At
this rate all the Georgia piae near enough
to transportation routes to be worth cutting
will soon be used up. Then the lumbermen
will make one more remove, this time to
the West; and when Alabama and Missis-
sippi shall have been stripped. the wood
mans axe and the shrek of the steam
saw mill will at length be heard in the last
great source OF supply of the whole country
lin the tens of thousands of square miles OF
pine forests beyond the Mississ ppI, In Arkan-
sas, Louisiana and Texas, a region as yet
unprecedented.
L. is greatly to be hoped that before the
destruction of these forests shall have been
carried to It's conclusion, men will have
grown wise enough to fad cut some way Of
carrying on the lumber trade without actu~
ally sweeping our forests from the face
of the earth. At present the op rations
of the lumberman are like those Of the
cotton worm, entering upon one side of the
chosen field and Unfortunately DESTROYING
everything that comes in his pathway until
the other side is res ched. 1t was In this wsy
that the white pine of the Northern States
was swept away; and the loss is absolutely
irreparable, for the Southern pine by no
means takes the place of white pine, not
being available for many of the uses in in
side work to which that soft and easily
worked wood was put
No ate mpt is made in the Southern At
lautic States to provide for a continuance
of forest growth. In fact for long series
OF years the pineries have been annually
burned over to destroy the underbrush and
promote the growth of the pas;urage
grasses. This consumes every little sprOut
and seedlir g, and effectually prevents the
termination of any new trees. II the clear
ed lands of the South were properly Guilt
vated an abundance of rich pas urage
hlShb OC WAbnOuO lCSOIbilS W buc
destructive practice of turning grsz-
ing animals into the Pima for
ests. The ''boxIngp OF trees for
the purpose of ga herring turpentne is sn-
other extremely destructive practice. To
cut deep notch into the side OF a pine, and
hew away the bark aud wood for the space
of ten feet above the notch, is a first-rate
way to XII tree; or, If 1t survive the
wound, it is practically worthless for the
lumbeiman. II, instead of turning the
"boXer" loose in the forest to heW where
he listeth, the two operations Of gathering
naval stores and numbering were carried on
under one management, with a view to
ecouomizing the supply of pine, a great
and needless waste might be avoided. This
country is rapidly "growing up" In all
parts of the North and of the South, the
density Of population is increasing. In
Western Texas, where Pile timber is too
cheap to be salable, the demand for 1t is in
creasipg, as 1t is in every other Safe. The
present rate of consumption will ere long
be doubled, and the time when the supply
is to be exhausted will no longer seem re-
mote, but starlingly near ard visible. It will
then be too late for { II ctual remedial
measures. The time to put in force laws
against the ruthless destruction of the pine
forests is the present. The Atlantic States