The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-11-13
AS TO FORESTRY.

bllhJ tlllS department COutlnucS w IC-
ceive requests for advice and assist
ance i'll the management of private
woodlands in the South. One of the
latest requests is for a working plan
for 1000, 900 acres of longleaf pine
land in southeastern Texas, the prop
erty of the Kirby Lumber Company
and the Houston Oil Company of Texas.
This is only one of a number of
similar requests that have recently
been received by the bureau of forestry.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
company has asked for a working plan
for its tract of 1875, 600 acres of mixed
hard and soft woods, situated in
Nicholas and Pocahontas counties,
southeastern West Virginia. Burton
& Co. have asked for an examination
of their tract of 25, 900 acres of pine
land situated in Berkeley county,
South Carolina The East Tennessee
Iron and Coal Company, owning CO.,
600 acres of hardwoods in the Cumber-
land mountains, desires to cut its
timber on conservative lines, and
has requested a preliminary exami-
nation of its tract.
In no part of the country is wider
| interest being shown in conservative
| forest management by private own
ers, than in the Southern states. Up
| to date the amount of private lands in
the South for which advice in hand
| ling has been asked of the bureau is
/, 534, 600 acres, and very large part
of the work which will be done by
the bureau for private owners in the
immediate future will be in that Sec
ton.
The industrial development of the
South on all sides during the last ten
years has been remarkable, but no sim
gle industry has made greater strides
than the lumber business. This is not
surprising when it is considered that
the Southern States contain a great
er percentage of forest area than any
other section of the United States.
The South has become very import
ant factor in the lumber markets of
the world, not only through its wealth
Of forests, but from the fact that it
has unusually good transportation
facilities. In reaching the home mar
kets Southern lumbermen have the
| advantage of a number of excellent
railroad systems to handle their prod
ucts and such important seaports as
| Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Mo
bile, Tampa, New Orleans and Gal
weston, provide excellent outlets
through which to reach the foreign
markets.
The South now has great army
Of lumbermen cutting away its forests,
and in spite Of their great extent, un-
less the cutting is done on conserva-
tive lines, the day is not far distant
when the conditions now existing in
the North and East will be found
there also For this reason it is en-
eouraging to see the interest display
|
lands. This tendency to cut timber
conservatively, looking to the future
value of the forests as well as to pres
ent profits, must be the safeguard
Conservative methods are now be-
ing taken up in the North when al
most too late, and it will be greatly
to the credit Of southern lumbermen
if they begin the protection Of their
forests in time taking to heart the
sad experience of people in other Sec
tions.
In addition. to more than a million
and half acres of private forest land
in the South, the bureau of forestry
has requests for the handling of more
than 800, 600 acres in other sections.
Added to this are nearly 80, 600, DOC
acres of United States forest reserves
and State lands, for which the bureau
is asked for technical assistance from
time to time.
Not only have the people through
out the country shown interest il
practical forestry but Congress at it,
last session so far recognized the i'm
portance of the governments work il
this line as to raise the division OF
forestry to the rank of a bureau. The
annual appropriation was also increas
ed from $S8, $50 in 1900 to 1885,, 440 il
1901. Still the demands upon the
bureau continue to greatly outstrip it,
resources.