The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1896-03-26
Lands and Pulp Mills.

The kennebec journal of the 10Th
of remarks of Hon. Llewellyn Powers at
the Board of Trade banquet held at
Watervile Wednesday of last week:
Mr.. Powers squarely takes the ground
that the pulp mills are beneficial to our
State; that they are Il very important
branch of the lumber business; that the
cutting for pulp is not necessarily inuri-
Gus to timber lands, but IN some respects
beneficial.
He said that with cutting for pulp
wood under present conditions it will
take great many years to 20 over the
vast tracts Of spruce land in Maine, and
to hi mind pulp cutting considered by
itself has had very little Influence upon
GU climate or rivers. Cutting for pulp
removes the seamy, crooked trees that
cumber the ground and are worthless
and hence have not been hauled, and
gives chance for other and better cues
to be grown ia their place. He thinks
that il will be very easy for the land
owners to limit the size below which
none shall be cut aud to enforce that re-
striction.
Maine. mon one in Aroostook county. As
the consumption increases, OF rs it may
become more difficult TO supply mills ia
the western parts of the State, mills will
probably be built in the northern part.
The more spruce lands are cut the
faster the trees that remain grow, aud
there is always large number below
the size limit left standing. Some Of the
in "a rn
those which have not been cut and upon
which the trees died some years ago be-
cause, he believed, they had not been
thinued out. He knew many claimed
that the destruction was attributed to
worm but he also knew that on the same
townships those parts that had been cut
remained green while on the part where
nothing had been cut the trees nearly all
died. Some of our most valuable tracts
have been cut hard for 80 years aud are
still covered with thrifty growing trees,
not AS large rs formerly, but valuable.
Our Maine forests he said soon recov-
cred from the effects of the AK; the
tornados and fires are what wipes them
out. He would have every precaution
taken against fires but would not hesitate
to cut freely.
As rule there is no increase in the
amount of timber on Il given tract unless
the larger trees are cut, and by this cut
ting employment is given to labor. He
said he was thoroughly convinced that
pulp mills and all other manufactures of
wood are beneficial to our State and
should be encouraged. The cry that we
are denuding and destroying our forests
by cutting too freely had never frighten-
ed him. That is what they are for.
Nature will soon repair what has been
taken off and in the meantime we have
been adding to the wealth of our State
and have given profitable employment to
many of our people. II you cut to nine
inches at the top for logs and to six
inches for pulp it simply takes nature a
few years longer to repair in the latter
case. There is, he believed, no danger
of eXhausting the supply under present
demands. Few tracts sell for less be-
cause they have been operated on. In
concluding he added that he hoped to see
before long, pulp and paper mills built
upon the waters of the AroOstoOk and
other tributaries of the ST. John where
the supply of spruce suitable for pulp is
almost ineXhaustibe.