The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-10
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER

lion men. who receive over 100 mill
lion dollars " wages.
Uncle Sa, III rus Against Waste.
This is enough TO
make us pause r -nnder where
We shall get ou. 1ss,.. for the
future. This is one Of 'ngs of
Uncle sam, patriarch, who f|2S all
he can to cut down the waste the
national forests. of which I write more
farther on. he has his men on the out
look for fires. and he gives plans for
cutting and caring for any privato for
ests 50 that the wood may last longer.
Any man who owns trees can get plans
from the forestry service as to how to
treat them. and the government Will
senG him experts. Applications for
such assistance have been already re-
ceiyed from owners, Of 100000
acres, and in some places only the ripe
trees are now cut. and the owners are
studying how to keep out the fires.
fires.
1t is estimated by the Department Of
agriculture that, If the private own
er; will cooperate, the forests of the
southern pine belt can be patrollcd for
2 cents per acre per year, and that the
northern forests xcan be watched at
cost Of cents per acre, while the
Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast for
ests would cost much less. They esti-
mate that all the forests in private
hands could be protected from fires
for ess than $4,000, 900 per year. and
thus result in a saving of far more
than that in the value Of the timber.
and in the preservation Of the young
trees for the future.
Some Lumber losses
The government is doing all il can
TO cut down the waste. 1t sends out
advice to the lum bermen as to how to
handle the timber and to the man
ayers of the sawmills IS to the best
! kinds of machinery. Many of the
railroad ties are now heWed Out with
/ the ak. If cut with the saw this alone
would save more than two hundred
and eighty million cubic feet of wood
| every year. About two-thirds of the
! wood in trees chopped down for luIn-
! Der is lost and larger part OF that
! intended for mine timberS. cooperage
and piles goes TO waste. The govern
ment gives advice as TO the treatment
! of timber in order to keep out the in
sects and rot. The insects annually
destroy more than eight billion cubic
| feet: but this may be prevented by
soaking the timber in chemicals. The
i same method is used against rot,
some ething like fourteen hundred mil
+ lion feet Of boards being so treated
! last year. We are now using about
sixty million gallons Of creosote and
rineteen million pounds of zinc
/
| AS To the losses by fire. they are still
of enormous etent From 1880 to
1895 they averaged $5O,000,oo0 per
annum. OF all the private forests not
more than one per cent has now an
efficient system Of fire protection, and
only the largest of the private own
ers keep a forest fire patrol
The government estimates that
about one-fourth of all the timber
logged out in the forest goes to waste.
! This comes from careless cutting. the
leaving of large stumpS and the not
using the tops and branches. In the
mills the thick gang-saw blades turn
a great deal of lumber to dust and it
is calculated that il thin band saws
took their places the saving would be
more than two thousand million board
/ feet per annum.
Another feature OF the government
/, work is the treatment OF the tUrpen-
tine farms. The turpentine comes
from the resinous gum which OoZes
| out of the SCARED pine tree into a
hole. cut at the foot of the trunk,
called box. This cutting. year after
year. soon kills the tree. Now, in place
nf the box tin trougls are fastened
| below the scars and clay jar
! catches the gum.
Uncle Sa scientists say that
there is an enormous amount OF tur-
pantine in The refuse Of the sawmills
Of the South. and that this might be
saved Welding about So. 600. 900 gal
Ions a wear. or a value Of more than
$4,000, 0G0.
Our National Forests
The chief work of the forestry bu-
reau. however, is taking care of the
n.tional forests. These are OF enor-
nous extent. and they are growing in
value each year. They nov cover 195
million acres. In round numbers they
are about equal to eight States as big