Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-17
WASTE OF WOOD.
Must Use Forests Conscrvatively q
 Walt Death of Lumber Industry.

Must Use Forests Comservatively oe Walt Death of Lumber Industry.
 All lumbermen are not wastef,tI.
 far from it," says R. s. Kellogg, az
 sistant forefter in the United States
 forest yervice, in speaking about tho
 progress of forestry in this country. | Just the contrary Is true In many
 cases and the number of men iu the
 lumber industry awakening to tho
 necessity of conser wing the country's
 forest resources IS increasing each
 day. Progressive lumbermen realiso
 that they must adopt conservative
 methods or live to watch the slow
 dehih of their great industry.
 Vast stretches of territory have | been made barren through. as wo | think now, the careless and almost
 criminal methods of the old time
 lumberman. Practically every sec-
 ton of the country bears scars left
 after he had skinned the land and
 left what remained open to the
 ravages of fire. The waste in the
 woods vas terrific; the mill waste l was almost as serious. In many | cases the percentage of the tree that | was sent to the market in the form
 Of lumber was so small that would
 be ashamed b mention the figure.
 It was considerably less than half. All this, however, was more the
 fault of conditions than of the in- dividual lEmbermen While some of them were without doubt unneces- sarily wasteful, the majority oper- dted as economically as they were able to and still make profit. Lum- Der was cheap, and many times only the best grades could be sold. Things have been changed during the last few years, however, for the timber
 supply Is dwindling and prices of forest products are rising to a point that permits fuller utilization of | timber.
 "Was's has been reduced because conditions now make it profitable to
 use much of the stuff that was for-
 merly left in woods. Improved saw.
 mill machinery is also playing an im- | portant part in the matter of the closer utilization of the tree. Bet- | ter work in the woods, reduction of
 mill waste and protection of timber
 holdings from fire aye going long
 way towards conserving our forest | resources.
 Do not think from this that all Of the old time practices have ceased
 or that all who are cutting our for- ests are practicing forestry-not all,
 nor maybe the majority, but the
 number is increasing, for the wide-
 awake men are learning that con- servative numbering pays. pro- gressive Pennsylvania firm manufac- turing lumber, lath and shingles outlines it's policy as follows:
 l We have always pursued a con- servative course in numbering. talk ing care of our timben and striving
 to keep out the fih. Any timber
 that blows down or should be burn- ed we gather up at once and always, so far as possible, all trees struck by lightning.
 We manufacture with thin saws. band and gangs. We strive to do our work as well as anybody can
 and take pride in the fact that we can furnish anything in white oak,
 white pine, or hemlock, that any firm can east of the Rocky Noun.
 tains and at any time. We make all our lath from the slabs and edgings, making about six and half mil- lions a year. The balance of the hemlock slabs and edgings, after taking out the lath, we load up and
 send to the pulpwood mill, apout 5000 cords per year. Our shingles are made from broken pieces, forks and hollow butts. about six million per year. We also gather up the tops and breaks and lDnbs of the
 hemlock and hardwood timber left
 in tie slashings. using all but the oak, hickory and chestnut, and seni
 cords of 160 cubic feet each, per year. This gathers up the refuse in, the forest so well that there is littl0 fuel to make destructive forest fire.
 Every man in our employ for the past 30 years has had positive orders when he sees smoke. start | on our land or anyone else's to drop
 his work at once and go put that fire out. If he hasn't help sufficient to do 1t, to send to the office and we
 will give him men enough to put 1t
 out. In this way We have saved
 nearly all cur land from devastation
 by 1re. It Is coming up well in sec- ond growth of which we do not cut any.
 "A question of taxation is a very serious one. Timberland has been
 assessed and taxed so high that the owners have been compelled to cut it of and could not hold 1t. Our
 recent law permits some concession
 on 30 acres of land only to one
 owner where kept in growing tim.
 Der. If taxation of growing timber
 were lower owners would not bo
 compelled to cut it so rapidly. So
 far We have not succeeded in any
 legislation for the prevention of forest fires that amounts to any, thing. If the fire can be kept out and taxation re6.lced, with judicious cutting there is no reason why
 Pennsylvania should not have tiin- Der sufficient for all time
 Statements like these contins ued the forester, show that prac- tical men of the lumber industry at
 present are different from the old timers who went into the forest, slashed away to their hearts con- tent, and told the world that the timber resources of the United States were inexhaustible. Although considerable proportion of our future supply will come from national and state forests, the great bulk of our timberland is in private hands. and much of the lumber used by