The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1908-06-25
OH, THE Trees.
An Important Matter Tat Should Con.
Cern All
WASTE LAND and FORST GROWTH.
(The Foreste.)

| (Ihe ForeetsJ
The writer of poplar tree book
once stated that the white pine of
our northeastern stats was destined
to disappear except fir ornamental
purposes. There arenany reasons
to believe that that tine will never
come, yet the nature and habits of
the tree and the shortsightedness of
the people make the sntement more
than a mere suspicion.
Not great many yars ago with
in the white pine regbn, there were
magnificent stands f old growth
pine. Every old inlabitant today
will tell you how they stood on his
fathers farm when he was boy,
their clear, straight trunks and
gnarled fiat tops high above every
thing else. Many an Cd house back
in the country has f1oC boards and
cupboard doors that ae more than
three feet wide which were made
from such trees.
These old monarchs # the north
ern forests are gone nov, except for
isolated trees or clums scattered
widely over the region. A woodlot
owner recently guided me several
miles back into the hilb in order to
point out three magnificent pines
which have been standing probably
for more than $50 years One could
never mistake them fpm others of
a later generation.
Before the advent of the portable
sawmill, it was improbable to cut
and haul logs any great distance to
market.
The trees were felled rolled to-
gether, and burned whel new lands
were cleared. LOG riding" days
are still pleasant memories to New
England's oldest inhabitants. Those
were the days of the large farms
with great herds of cattle and many
oxen. Sheep roamed the hills in far
greater numbers than they ever do
today. Immense areaswere requir-
ed for pasturage, and extensive
fields supplied the hay and grain for
the winter feed. Oxpastures are
not known today, yet hey were COM
mon in the days gone by.
Today, farming has moved west
ward, and large farms in the hills
have been reduced orabandoned en-
t;rely. 1t is true, d course, that
men have learned to cultivate small
areas often as probably as their
fathers did larger tracts of land.
Every industrious farmer went over
his pastures each year and removed
every chance pine that had seeded
from some adjacent tree. Now
every wise farmer leaves the young
pines to grow.
1t may not be ve,y strange to
know then that todaythere are more
acres actually growing trees than
there were so or 60 years ago. There
is not more timber, of course, for
much of the valuable forests have
been removed within the last fifty
years. Such land is now covered
with poor quality Of hardwoods.
The valuable forests today are the
old fields and pastuies which have
grown up to pine.
Everyone knows that broadleaf
trees, such as birch, maple and oak,
usually take the place of pine when
it is cut. The pines b not sprout as
rule, and when pine forest has
been cut over without leaving any
trees FOR seed, there S no chance for
young pines to again occupy the
land. Worthless birch and maple,
with their light seeds, usually take
possession of the cut.over lands.
This type becomes known as sprout
growth and is of little value to man.
kind. White pine, deprived OF its
right to cut-over lands is, however,
the predominating tree of the aban-
doned fields. The owners no longer
cut down the young pines, but en-
courage their growth. In a suitable
soil, with sufficient light and with
occasional mature trees to supply
the seeds, the abandoned fields alone
are providing for our future com
mercial timber.
A southern New Hampshire lum
herman recently stated that if HI
had left a few sturdy pines for seee
trees on the woodlots he has lumber
ed during the last thirty years, th'
present value of the young growth
would be worth more than all tn
timber he has cut during his life
time There are thousands Of acre
of land, once growing pine, whicl
are now producing nothing bette
than gray birch and maple. Ofte'
fires have been allowed to burn owe