The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-12-20

washington, d. c., Dec. 19.-(Spe-
ciaL )-Roughly speaking, the original
forest areas of the United States can
readily be divided into five regions;
the Northern. the Southern, the Cen
trail, the Rocky Mountain, and the Pa
clfic. The Northern forest covered the
New England and Middle Atlantic
States and the Lake States; the Gem
tral forest, the great river valleys west
of the Appalachians and north of the
Gulf states; the Southern forest, the
Atlantic and Gulf seaboard from New
Jersey through Texas, and the Rocky
Mountain and Pacific forests, the reg
ions whose names they take Each
of these, with the exception OF the
Rocky Mountain forest. which had lar
less than the others, originally con-
tanned about one-fourth or the totai
supply of timber Of the United States.
The southern type. the subject of
this article, widened out southwark
and westward from New Jersey
through Virginia. the Carolinas, Ala
bama. and the Gulf States. into Ar
kansas and a part of Missouri AMI
Oklahoma. 1t Is mainly coniferous
forest In which the yellow pines
heavily predominate. Interspersed
with the pines are cypress, oak, gum'
magnolia. yellow poplar. and a va
riety of other hardwoods. The total
original area of this forest was about
two hundred and twenty million acres,
and II contained at least one thousand
billion feet of timber.
All of the forests have been reduced
by cutting, clearing, and fire. inc
southern forest now contains one hun
dred and fifty million acres and Ave
hundred billion board feet; or. In other
words. since the development of the
country began 1t has ben reduced IN
extent by one-fourth AMI in produc-
ton bv one-half. Even now. however,
one of the chief sources of natural
wealth in the South lies IN It's forests.
ana what remains still forms the most
Important body of timber in the United
states. for. though the great forests
OF the Pacific Coast contain more tim.
her. they yield only q few varieties ana
are comparatively far from market.
The care of the Southern forests,
therefore, presents q wonderful oppor-
tunity to the people of the SOUTH TOT
IL the remaining forest is wisely used
and IL the lumber interests that are
coming In from the exhausted wood
lands Of the North will practice sound
forest management, the South can easi-
ly become the chief permanent source
of timber in the country.
Furnishes Much Lumber.
In 1870 the South contributed barely
one-tenth to the total lumber product,
in 1900 II produced one-fourth, In 1904
a. was probably one-third, ana since
then Il has kept up the same ratio.
The South, therefore. outranks all oth-
err lumber producing regions, and her
yellow pine alone produces each year
more lumber than the combined pro-
Duct Of Douglas fir of the Pacific for
aat white nine of the Northern for
est, and the oak of the Central for
est.
" "a per cent of those in the country.
are now located in the Southern
states. They employ at least 10000
men, or SO per cent of all the labor
engaged in the lumber Industry IN the
United states. During the last quar-
ter of o cntury. the capital invested
in Southern logging and milling has
risen from $20.000,000 to $lSO,oOO'0OO,
ana the wage OF the labor employed
has increased six fold. The manu-
Featuring OF lumber, with an annual
output valued at yearly $2Oo,0o0.ooo.
Ia outranked by only one Industry, ag-
riculture, and is exceeded In value
only by the cotton crop.
1t Is of great Importance that this
vast source OF wealth be fully con-
served through wise use. In some re-
gtons, since timber grows slowly, and
Individuals and States can not readily
AXE up long time investments, II is
tight and just that the national gov
, eminent should step In and help con-