Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-09-30
YELLOW PINE FORESTS.
Losses Result from Failure to Pro-
tect Against Ravages of Fire.

Washington, Sept. 22.-In many
parts Of the country the most pro-
gressive men of the lumber industry
have felt the greatest necessity of
adopting better methods of protecting
their timber holdings from fire, but
in some places there still remains
much to be done. This is particu-
larly true through a part Of the great
yellow pine belt of the South upon
which the naval stores industry of
the world Is largely dependent. A
timber owner Of Florida, in writing
20 the forest service at Washington,
talks of the matter as follows:
Speaking Of fire protection: There
is absolutely nothing being done. The
turpentine people, to protect their
turpentine timber, rake around the
trees during the early winter, and
then burn the woods. This is done
to keep off the forest fires of early
spring. These fires are supposed to
be set by the cattle interests for the
purpose Of burning off the dry grass
so that the young grass will come up,
on which the cattle feed In doing
this, they destroy millions of young
pines that have just started to grow
and are too small and tender to stand
the heat of the fire.
''If these fires could be stopped it
would solve the problem Of reforest-
ing, as far as Florida is concerned.
| have thought for long time that
no fence law would go far toward
stopping the burning of the woods.
AS 1t is now, there is no regulation.
What | mean to say Is that If you
own small piece Of land, say forty
acres, and had 0,0N0 head of cattle,
you are at liberty .. Craze your cat
tie on my 900 acres of land, or on
my neighbor's 10000 acres Of land
and we cannot help ourselves. If we
would catch you firing the woods and
had witness to prove it, we could
prosecute you, but this is hard to do.
If we had a no fence law, you, as a
cattle owner, would be compelled to
keep your cattle in an enclosure,
which removes the temptation of
burning tn" woods Of your neigh
bors, besides being Of infinite benefit
to poor people in starting little frams.
In many instances the fencing of the
land Is by all odds the largest item
Of expense in statring a small farm.
and often puts 1t beyond the reach of
poor men who might otherwise make
little start toward farming.
The burning Of the grass not only
Kills millions Of small pine trees, but
II lmpoverishes the soil and exposes
the ground to heat Of the sun, thereby
retarding the growth Of not only
small pine trees, but the large ones
as well. The thing that is necessary
to make the trees healthy and grow
larger from year to year Is to leave
the grass and leaves on the ground.
What | have mentioned, and the
many destructive methods being
practiced in the cutting of timber in
the forest and in the manufacturing
of 1t, Is costing the South millions of
dollars, of which she is taking no ac-
count, and the present low prices of
lumber and naval stores will add to
the destruction for the reason that
many Of the owners OF timber and
leases will not have money
to pay the expense Of raking the
pines. Our naval stores and lumber
are being sent all over the world. and
in the majority OF cases we are not
expenses out Of our commod-
ity, with total loss Of our timer.
which Is really valuable enough to
bring a good, liberal stumpage. W
are selling our turpentine at 35 a..u
36 cents per gallon, and it will cost
s per gallon to reproduce the forest
from which 1T IS being taken. The
same thing will apply to rosin. We
are giving the world our crop of lum-
ber at an average Of about SIS per
thousand feet that will cost us from
$40 to $50 per thousand feed to re-
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