Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1900-06-28
A PRELIMINARY.
CONTINUED from page Il

THIS old timber alone. A portion OF
the remaining timber must be cut as
well. The question. therefore, il to
what diameter shall the cut be linn
tied.
From a preliminary examination
It Is impossible to determine this
limit accurately, but from the study
that has been made, which was
careful so far as it extended, Is to Is
ihcfrs would seem to he indicated.
y hs,dut" rule, however, can be
lad Il .wn for SO large a tract and
lar all sections. For example, in
some sections, there is large
amount of small tim Der from 6 to u
inches in diameter: here ali the trees
to "A ipehes could safely he removed.
La another portion of the tract the
sizes are SO large that there would
be very little left if the Unit were
fixed at Is to is inches. Here many
Individual trees would need to re-
main for their value and seed trees,
and it would have to be considered
whether tie sernbby, crooked, and
knotty ("punk knott trees might
not in great part serve this purpose.
When hard woods occur to a con-
siderable extent the cut OF pine must
be carefully restricted in order to
prevent the former from gaining
complete possession of the land in
the future. All mefehantable hard
woods should be taken with the first
cut OF pine, to enable the trees of the
latter species, that have been allow
ed to remain, to develop and restork
the area for the future.
The entire tract with the exception
OF the "bottoms' is natural pine
land, and this species will take pos
session wherever it is given
chance, as shown by the old fields
and elearings.
In the "hurricane-breaks" the cut
ting may be limited to Il or even to
y inches. But in general, and until
the final examination has been made
the cutting should be limited TO Is
or IS inches. probably the latter.
The timber which remains after the
first cutting will in all probability
show an increased rate eff growth.
1t is understood that the company
intends, by means of the "steam-
skidder," to clean up every thing 500
feet on each side Of the track. This
will kill most of the present young
grow tn, so that it is important that
a number of serubby, crooked, knot
ty, and one-log trees should be left
to seed up this strip.
In the "bottoms" 1t will be impos-
sible to reproduce pine to any ap-
probable extent, as it is natural
hardwood land. The best policy
would be to remove The pine, some
hickory and gum. at the first cut,
leaving principally the oaks THE
most valuable species) to seed up
the blanks and thus predominant in
the future stand.
FOREST PROTECT ON.
AS has been stated, one of the
principal dangers to the forest. es
pecially the young growth, is from
fire. Ia operating the railroad in
the dry months the engines should
have spark arrestors aud the train
crew should be instructed to be ex-
tremely cautious and to extinguish
all SIN all fires found along the line,
In Arkansas man is allowed to
burn over his land at any time, pro-
yided that he notifies the owners Of
adjacent land. There are SO many
farms and clearings within tt tim
berlands owned by the Sawyer &
Austin Lumber Co., that it would be
difficult for them to protect all their
land. But if two rangers were EN-
ployed during the summer mouths,
Mr.. Ramsey's, and the farmers were
requested To inform them when
about to burn over theie land, a
great many fires could be kept out
of the timber. These rangers would
also be very useful in other respects,
which will be mentioned presently.
The impression prevails that fire
running through the virgin pine
timber does no harm. This is a
great mistake, for it almost always
kills the young growth and seorches
the trunks of the larger trees, there
by injuring the cambium layer and
thus retarding the -ate of growth
The lumber is often perfectly sound