The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-04-20
FIRE, THE PINES SALVATION.
Correspondent Advances Novel Theo-
ry for Conservation Of Long Leaf
Pine

To the Editor Of The News and Cour-
Ter:
A fearful error exists in modern
forestry that should be corrected at
once, for 1t has given the long leaf
or yellow pine a setback Of so years,
and will cost the Southern States
millions Of dollars, and future gener-
ations much inconvenience.
The error Is this: Every writer on
the preservation Of our yellow pine
for more than so years past has
warned all owners of pine forests not
to let fire get into it at any time, and
the consequence is that on large belts
of pine timber, not young long leaf
pine can be found today, while a
thick growth of scrub timber, per-
fectly worthless, is gradually choking
out the remaining pines.
For years I have been making in
vestigations why the yellow pine was
so prolific in the time Of the Indians,
also up to the civil war, and not so
now, and here is what my observa-
tions show. The Indians in their
time were mighty hunters, their flesh
pots were none other than the fruits
of the chase and stream, with a little
corn. Deer supplied them the great
er part Of their meat. To have deer,
grass was essential; to have grass it
was necessary to burn out each year
the entire forests Of the country. and
that meant everywhere.
When our ancestors came here
they saw how the Indians had the
entire country a veritable meadow.
covered with yellow pine fores-, un-
surpassed on the face of the globe
They too, kept up burning of the
pine forest each winter, so as t. have
grazing, not only for the wild ami
mails. but for their domestic animals
as we'll. The animals fattened and
the pines flournished. When an old
pine was cut down for timber ten
young ones took it's place.
After the war many writer's began
advancing the theory that fire must
be kept out of the pine forests ana
even laws were passed making it H.
legal for any person to allow lire to
get into anothers pine timber. The
ic fro
out for 40 or so years. there are alb
solutely no young pines, AMI other
grOwths of worthless trees are evcn
choking out the remaining pines.
The yellow pine renews itself by
very small seed and unless this see
falls on the bare earth, there is no
chance for it to sprout and grow.
Should it fall among leaves Or trash
it is forever lost.
To prove that my theory is tol-
rect, there are some parts Of the for-
ests which fire gets into every year or
someone, and on such places the
scrub growth is dying out and the
young long leaf pines are in evid encc.
ON account of the very dry wealth
er here the past winter, forest pines
have been constantly burning, and !
have gone over the burned acres. to
see what effect it has had on tho
young pines. Almost all of them
have put out new leaves and are
growing, while many of the worth
less trees are dead.
Fire during the growing periOl is
deadly to the pine, but during the
winter months it is salvation.
l request all owners of yellow pine
to experiment along this line.
l know full we'll that the seed OF
the yellow pine is fully as fertile now
as it was in the day OF the Indians
and even our ancestors; it flourn!sh-
ed for them, they fired the fores>s
every winter, and If we will adopt
their methods we too can restore the
beautiful, noble and valuable long
leaf pine.
/ know what | have written is di-
ametrically opposed to all works on
forestry, but if we follow the rules
as laid down by modern foresters the
yellow pine will be like the Red Man
"A thing of the past
a. w. BRABHAM.
Olar S. c., April II, 1910.