The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-31
Disappearing Forests
Present a Grave Problem
The Country Face to Face with Problem of
Preserving the Supply.

err is abroad in the forests. He is a
man who prospects in the woods for
trees suitable for poles. The name
comes from Northern Michigan, where
much of the timber used for this pur-
pose is cut. There are establishments
in Michigan where it is not uncommon
TO see 10000 poles gathered in a single
pile. In preparing the trees for the
market nothing is lost. The upper por-
ions OF the trunks are utilized as
1ence-posts and the pieces sawed from
the bottoms are fed into machines
which transform them into shingles.
Great quantities of the poles of the
shapely Michigan cedar are dispatched
TO all sections of the country to be
transplanted along the highways and,
IN addition, cedar poles are shipped
abroad to serve similar purposes. The
wires which carry telegraph and tele-
phone messages along the banks of the
Nile, in the shadow of the pyramids
and past the temples of the Pharaohs,
are in many instances held aloft by
tree trunks that grew in the neighbor-
hood of Menomenee.
In the South the naval stores indus
try and the demand for hard pine is
stripping the forests. The demand for
poles for the telegraph, telephone and
electric light and power lines is sup
piled by the cypress and the juniper.
The Tie Question.
Keeping pace with the demand for
wood suitable for poles is the increas-
ing need of ties for the tracks of the
great steam and electric railway sys-
. TENS of the country. While the officers
OF the United States government are
studying forestry on the sample plots
in the Maine woods, the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company under the direction
of State Forestry Commissioner Roth
rock, has begun the work of planting
locust trees in a large reservation at
ConeWago, from which the company
expects to get about 100000 cross-ties
within the next fifty years.
The Kansas City. Fort Smith and
Memphis Railroad is another company
which has taken steps to supply it's
needs in the matter of timber. In a
tract of 400 acres near Darlington,
KAN, hardy catalpas, suitable for
posts, poles and ties, were set out be-
tween 1873 and 1884. Since then the
growth of trees has been carefully
tended and studied and accurate ac-
counts kept of their cost and value,
The financial exhibit shows that the
planting and tending have cost to date
SPAS per acre, while the gross value
at present is estimated at $39121 per
acre. Allowing 8 per cent. compound
interest on the investment, there is
left a clear profit of $13S.19 per acre.
This experience of a railroad corpora
ton is an object lesson to farmers and
land owners.
Trees mature slowly but their. growth
does not interfere with work on near
by lands devoted to the raising of or
binary I'M crops, and as the trees
steadily increase in size and approach
maturity they will bring to their owner
the satisfaction of knowing that they
represent the development of a new
eource of income which will be perma-
nent, for constant planting replaces the
trees sent to market. And in addition
there will be the reasonable assurance
that the product is likely to increase
rather than diminish in value with the
passing of the years.