The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-09
SOUTHERN STATES TIMBER PINES.
An Important Publication Issued by
the Department of Agriculture.

| BY far the most elaborate work on for
estry topics yet issued by the department.
| of agriculture has just made its appear
| ance. 1t is a monograph on the timber
! pines of the southern states by DR.. Charles
1 MOhr with a discussion of the structure
! of their wood by Hilbert Roth, the whole
prepared under the direction of DR.. y. e
| Fernow, chief of the division of forestry
The pine, we are told, is considered the
| most important timber tree in the world
! first because of it's combination OF
! strength, elasticity, lightness and ease of
working; second, because it occurs in for
| ests in the temperate zones, often to the
| exclusion of every other species so that
| its exploitation is made easy and profit
| able; third. because il is readily repro
! duced and is a tolerably good grower; ard
| finally, because it furnishes a valuable
| crop from the poorest soils. In the South
four belts of pine forests of different
| types are found, running generally paral-
| lei to the coastlne; the coast plain within
| the tidewater region, formerly given over
| TO the long-leaf pine, but now in process
| of replacement by the Cuban or
loblolly species; the rolling hills
or pine barrens, occupied almost exclu-
sively by the long-eaf; a mixed-growth
bell where the short-leaf. the loblollv. and
the hard woods dispute territory with the
long-leaf and drive it into a secondary
| place and the short-eaf belt. where the
is only feebly represented. The iong-leaf
and short-leaf pines are, in quantity and
quality combined, the most important
while the loblolly or Oldheld pine, not yet
fully appreciated, comes next; the Cuban
or slash pine, always cut and sold with
the long-leaf, without distinction, is of as
fine quality as the long-leaf, of more rapid
growth, and, by its habit in early life, bet
ter fitted to escape the dangers to which
II is later exposed. There are other spe-
cies, but none that comes near enough to
these four in value to be worthy of the
same consideration. In popular parlance
and even in the technical works of archi-
tects, the leading four species often figure
Unfortunately as southern or "yel-
low" pine.
The forests of long-leaf pine are found
in what is known as the Atlantic pine
region, the maritime belt of the Eastern
Gulf states, the central belt of Alabama,
the Coosa basin, etc, in Northern Ala
bama, and regions west of the Mississippi
river, The Atlantic region, extending from
the southern frontier of Eastern Virginia
to the peninsula Of Florida, embraces the
older and more populous states. where
numbering the production of naval stores
and clearing for agricultural purposes
have wrought most havoc among the
pines. In Virginia the long-leaf has al
most wholly disappeared and been re-
placed by a second growth of loblolly. In
North Carolina the indications are of an
annual cut of 65,OO0,OOO feet, and the yearly
shipment of lumber from Wilmington
range from % 100000 to 100000 feet Sta
| tistics of the draught on these forests for
naval stores products, though variable,
| are equally impressive, the shipments
from Wilmington reaching in some years
as much as 125000 casks of spirits turpen-
| tine, 5000 barrels of crude resin or tur-
pentine, 6G4 600 barrels of rOsin, and 5000
n n a
| shipments aggregated, in the fifteen years
| between 1900 and 1894 nearly $30500000. In
\ South Carolina there is an annual cut of
| about 1A,0O0,000 feet, and the lumber ex-
ports from Charleston run as high as TO-
| 100000 feet in a year, while the value of
! the naval stores shipped from that port
would average, in spirits of turpentine
| and rosin alone, more than 81. 100000.
| Georgia, the great pine state of the
| south, whose commence has given the
| name Georgia pine" to the long-leaf
| species generally in the markets of The
world has a yearly cut OF at least $780,.
| 600 feet. Measurements made on a small
| tract of forest untouched by the ak serve
as a fair average of the timber growth
in this state: Average mean diameter, 1Iis
| inches; length of timber, 4l4 feet; total
| hight, 81 feet; number of rings, 1874. Only
in this last particular was there any con-
| siderable divergence, the range there be-
| ing from lbs to $50. In all other respects
| the measurements showed great uniform
| ity, the diameters ranging from 10 to %
inches, the timber length from 40 to 45
| feet, and the hight from SO to log feet. A
| large proportion of the pine woodland Of
| Georgia lies so convenient to the railroads
| that that means of transportation is used
more than the sea for shipping the finished
product away. In 1892 the long-leaf pine
lumber sent by rail to northern markets
from Georgia exceeded 60, 00O, 900 feet, while
by all means of transportation the state
! sent out, in the ten years ending with
1894, an average of 2SS, 100000 feet a year,
OF an average value Of 49, ll9, 600 From the
single port of Savannah, meanwhile. the
shipments of spirits of turpentine have
run as high in a single year as 277,6l7 casks
and Of rosin 1899, 19S barrels.
Florida and Alabama both use the port
of Pensacola as a shipping point. so that
their separate products cannot be accu-
rately estimated. From Pensacola the
average shipments per year. for a period
of fourteen years ending with 1891 amount
ed TO more than 252,0O0,000 feet. In the
single year of 1885 the value of these ship
ments was S2,SO5.50O. Alabama makes a
large use, also Of the port of Mobile, from
which the shipments OF lumber in 1928
reached a total of 1866, 200 feet, valued at
81. $4,000. The shipments of naval stores
from this port, however, are on the de-
cline. They now average somewhere be-
tween 1900 TO 10000 casks of spirits of tur-
pentine and from 10000 to $1,000 barrels of
rosin: whereas in the year lSS2-S3 the tur-
pentinc shipments amounted TO 1880 ca SKIS,
and the rosin in the following year to 210.
572 barrels. The timber cut yearly in AL
ALBANIA IS not far from 192OOO,O0O feet In
Mississippi the average annual cut during
the last three years has been between l22
100000 and i250OO,00O feet.
The shipments by water and rail, from
the centers Of production la this state,
IN the season OF lS9s-93, were S00.O00.0O0
feet net. Louisiana, counting the regions
both east aud west Of the Mississippi
river, does not run much above 70,00Q,000
feet in her lumber shipments; and Texas,
in 1892 put out li00O00O feet.
The valuable products worked out of
the long leaf pine include all kinds of
structural Timber from crossties for rail-