The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1913-11-14
TIE CUT.0V[R PINE
LANDS ARE COMING
into THEIR OWN
Mississippi Newspaper Gives Due
Credit to Wonderful Acres Of
Southern Part Of State
Are Worth Millions.

Says the Jackson News in it
State Fair edition:
Conditions surrounding the set
tlement of the United States have a
last brought prominently before TIN
home-Seeking element the possibili
ties of the cut-over lands of TIN
South, Of which there is vast area
From an agricultural standpoint
these lands have never established
reputation such as they deserve
by reason Of their great adaptabi|ity
to the needs of the husbandman,
whether he be simply farmer or a
farmer-stockman. 1t was hardly
expected that they would do so sc
long as they were covered with for
ests of valuable pine and hardwoods
Necessarily the lumber man must
be the pioneer in the work of pre-
pairing them for use and occupancy.
This was prodgious task. but it is
being rapidly accomplished, much
more rapidly than the ordinary OBJ
server is prepared to admit, not
witI,standing the efforts of national
anu State governments to impress
upon the public mind the great need
of conservation and reforestation if
the requirements of future genera
tons for lumber are to be reasonably
met with.
Mississippi may well be taken as
an example of the extent to which
conversion of timber lands into
farms and homesteads has rro-
gressed. Every Southern State
stands in about the same relation,
except that perhaps the entire
southern part Of Mississippi is long
leaf yellow pine territory.
The Northern farmer, as rule,
rests under the impression that these
timbered regions are Of little value as
farm lands. There are two ade-
quate reasons for the existence Of
this false impression. The first is
that great modern power-advertiS-
ing. BY means Of unlimited pub
licity of prolonged duration, the
Northern homeseeker has come to
believe that it is upon the prairie,
the untimbered region, that he will
find conditions most favorable for
the prosecution of his work. He
knows, of course. that to clear and
make ready for cultivation tract of
timber-covered land requires time
and patience; per contra, that the
prairies are almost ready for the
pillow on the day he lights upon
them. Hence, the plausibility of
the promoter of the prairie project
appeals with direct and efficient force
to him. But by far the greater rea-
son upon which he bases his judg-
ment of the undesirability of timber
land is found in the character of the
timber land with which he has come
in contact in the North. There it is
quite generally the rule that timber
land is rough, rocky and billy, and
the soil is quite frequently too poor
to raise even a disturbance upon it.
The man who attempts the erection
of a home there has certainly hard
digging" to make a success of it.
Therefore, the Northern man cannot
easily be convinced that there is a
difference in land covered with tim
Der. He cannot conceive Of the fact
that the rich, alluvial, sandy loan of
the great State of Mississippi that
has for ages past and is even now
supporting wealth of timber that
must and will be. in time, converted
into rich and prosperous farms. He
has his knowledge and his preju-
Ices to overcome. And it is in this
direction that there is an intelligent,
.hough somewhat disconnected, ef-
'ort being made at this time.
Years ago, when land was about
he most plentiful and least de-
manded commodity in this country,
arge bodies went into the hands of
he saw mill men of other sections
1t merely nominal figures. Immense
ortunes have been built up by them