The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-11-03
TIMBER IN THE SOUTH.
A Valuable Statement of the
Vast Fol estry Interests in
the Southern States.

years to the South for its supply of
timber This has been most forcibly
shown in the chapter devoted to the
subject in the magnifcently printed
md illustrated volume, "The Empire
If the South, which has just been pub
ished and is now being distributed by
the Southern Railway. The author of
the book, Frank Presbrey, as present.
ed, with the cooperation Of the Railway
Company some most forcible facts il
Illustrative of the fortunes awaiting the
South in this great avenue of national
wealth. He says;
The Southern States contain at pres
ent the largest amount OF marketable
timber standing in any section Of this
continent, and 39.5 per cent. of her area
is wooded, as against 1872 per cent. for
the entire country,
Although larger amounts are claim
ed as standing on the Pacific coast,
these are, by reason of the distance
from places of consumption, practical
ly for the most part out of the market,
and are being decimated by reckless
numbering and fires so rapidly that
even in amount they will soon be less
than the Southern resources. Prof. B.
E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Di-
vision Of the U. S. Geological Survey,
says the South contains not only the
largest amount and the greatest varie
ty of hard woods, but it also contains
in the greatest abundance and perfec-
ton that most important class of tim
Der which furnishes quarters of
our lumber consumption-the pine and
its coniferous substitutes like the cy-
press, cedar, spruce and hemlock. The
Importance of this will appear more
strikingly in few years, when the
white pine supplies of the Northern
States will have been decimated and
brou ght to a subordinate condition. At
present, of the nearly thirty billion feet
of pine and other conlferons lumber
used in the United States, the North
ern States furnish the bulk, the South
ern States a little over one-quarter.
But presently the white pine of the
North which now reaches an annual
output of eight or twelve billion feet of
material. will gradually decrease, in
fact, it has already begun to decrease,
and in the same proportion the output
of Southern pine mustincrease. North
ern lumbermen are investing in South
ern pine rapidly, and in few years
the center of lumber production will be
found south of the Ohio and Potomac
rivers.
The Southern pine belt, stretching
with width varying from 100 to 2O(
miles along the Atlantic and Gull
coasts, and containing nearly one hun.
dred and fifty million acres, contains
not less probably than twenty-five mil
lion acres Of unculled virgin pine, and
altogether probably over two hundred
billion feet of standing pine. Thu
quality of this pine is world renowned
especially that of the Longleaf, Vel
low of Georgia varieties, and their as
sociates the Cuban pines, which TO
strength and durability excel all othe
pines of the market. 1t is the materis
for heavy construction par excellence
while the Shortleaf and Loblolly pine
furnish excellent finishing material.
In addition to the wood, these pine
ries furnish annually from seven t
eight million dollars worth Of navl
stores, rosin and spirits of turpentin,
and, as Investigations Of the Divisio
of Forestry of the United States Agr
cultural Department have lately show
without impairing the value of Il
wood.
A most excellent and pleasing subst
tute for white pine in house fnishir
is furnished by the bald cypress, Il
Big Tree of the South, which haun
the swamps along the rivers. It's las
: ing qualities in contact with the soil,
B. in the shape of shingles on a roof, ha
long given it foremost rank among d
, rable woods.
The mountains of Georgia, Tenne
see and North Carolina contain co
! siderable though scattered areas of t
r northern confer, white pine and spru
while hemlock skirts the mounta
streams But the features which la
made these mountain forests famo
| are the big tulip trees aud magnifce
development of oak and other ha
woods. Trees of diameters over fl
and six feet. aud one hundred feet
= the first limb, are not uncommon. II
large sized material, to be sure, is L
found spread over the whole mounta
I range, but occurs in coves and sm
areas here and there. Being to {
gree secluded and distant from mea
of transportation, it has been waiti
for enterprise and development, viii
. would Justify the extension of railroa
into its territory.
The States of Kentuky and Tenn,
see and the northern parts of Georg
Alabama and Mississippi participate
this wonderful hardwood growth,