The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-02-07
A Timely WARNING
TO DELLA DISTRICTS.
Enough Wood Wasted Annually In Delta
to Burn Nearly $4,000 Miles Roads,

Experiments conducted by the United
States Office of Public Roads during re-
cent years at Clarksdale and Greenville,
Mississippi, have demonstrated that
'gumbo" or "buckshot" clay forms, after
burning an excellent road-making ma
terial. The construction OF adequate
public roads constitutes one OF the
most important problems now confront
ing the people of the Delta districts
The rapid disappearance of timber rem
ders the problem constantly more Sc
rious and difficult, for fuel Is the most
important factor in solving the road
problem in this section of the country.
Gravel, stone and other hard road. build
ing materials are scarce in the Delta
regions, hence the ingenuity of man has
been called upon to devise method Of
utilizing the material at hand. The
burnt clay method solves the problem
II the roads are to be improved before
all of the land is stripped of its timber.
The forests of Louisiana, Arkansas
and Mississippi suffered from the In
roads of the lumberman in 1905 a loss
Of about 6,500,000,000 feet Of lumber, or
over oDe-sixth Of the total cut in the
United States. The waste from cutting
and saving trees for lumber Is estimated
by the Forest Service to be about 70
per cent. This waste consists Of tops,
stumps, culls, slabs, edges, dust and
bark, most Of which can he utilized In
burning clay for road building. Assum-
Ing that only -seyenths OF the waste
can be used for this purpose, or one foot
Of waste for every foot Of lumber, and
that there are about $50 board feet In
In cord of wood, it follows that the
waste was equivalent in volume to over
II million cords Of wood. This was
sufficient fuel to burn about 1880 miles
OF 12 foot road and did not include the
immense quantities of timber cut and
burned to clear the land for planting
cotton. The profits of the great pack
ing and manufacturing industries Of the
country are largely derived from the
utilization OF by products which were
formerly wasted. At last method has
been devised by which the waste pro-
ducts of the forests of the Delta may be
utilized.
It has been ascertaned that II this
clay Is burned it loses its sticky quality
and makes good serviceable road at
all seasons OF the year. The process OF
burning is simple and may be easily fol.
lowed. Any sound, dry and well-sea-
soned wood, which has been cot into
lengths of 4, s or II feet, may be used
for the purpose. Abont one cord Of
wood is required to burn s lineal feet
OF road u feet wide. Dry brushwood
bark, chips, old fence rails and railroad
ties, and slack coal may also be used tt
advantage with the wood.
II this process Of burning road had
been known years ago section Of tim
ber along the roadside equal to the
width of the road could have been sci
apart for the purpose. II Ia not too
late yet, however, for this plan to bt
| put in operation In communities, bat
unfortunately, there are thousands o
acres OF cleared land in large tracts
where such roads would be too cXpcn
sive because wood il now an item o.
very considerable cost. 1t requires M
prophet to foresee that at the present
rate, within few years the Delta viii
be practically all cleared and wood vii
be 30 expensive that IL will be out o
the question to burn "gnmbo" for roat
purposes. The people Of this sectior
must, therefore, decide this matter a
once, for il the present opportunity fo
improving the roads il allowed to pas
there Is no escape from the terribl,
condition OF these "gumbo" or chuck
shot" roads, which, II not improved, will
remain a perpetual monument to tn
extravaganza and improyidence Of thi
generation.