The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1928-08-31
A BIG MONEY CROP 4 ]
THEY ALMOST FORGOT
But Hundreds of Farmers, Busted on Peas and
Potatoes, Woke Up and Cashed In On
Logs, Logs, Logs

"CrOps, crops everywhere, but
nothing to make money for u.s.
has been the cry of farmers this
year after they had lost money on
both peas and Irish potatoes. but
many farmers have learned
valuable lesson from their experi-
ence this year. They have learn
ed that there is good money in
their acres Of farm timber.
Nearly all the farms in this sec
ton have several acres of standing
timber, regarded by many farmers
only as a place to get little fire.
wood and a place where rabbits end
birds can be shot. But this sum-
mer the most nearsighted farmer
has found out something about his
wood lot that he neither knew nor
cared to know about before.
Cutting logs is hard work, much
harder than digging potatoes or
picking cotton. so many farmers
have never cut their timber into
logs and sold it before this year.
But this year the farmers have been
hard pressed to find money, SO they
have diligently cut all the good logs
they could find on their farms and
hauled them in to the mills In
Elizabeth City and other saw mill
centres. '''s
Into town came the farmers with
pine logs, gum logs, Juniper logs,
hickory logs, and every other kind
of log that the mills would buy. A
good pine log will brings from Sl9
to $40, an amount which to some
of the farmers in this county is a
Godsend.
Just how many logs Pasquotank
farmers have cut this year is not
easily estimated. but Chesson Manu-
featuring Co.. and Foreman-Blades
Lumber Co., report that there have
been many more logs hauled this
year than ever before. Logs have
been hauled into town end sold to
the mills by some farmers Of this
county for years, but this year there
have been many farmers who have
taken up the back-breaking work
of cutting logs for the first time,
forced to do so on account of their
need of money.
Too many farmers seem to have
the idea that the only things they
can make money on are the things
they raise by their own toll. They
have never thought much about get
ting money out Of something they
did not have 10 raise. and since
they did not have to plant and
raise, the trees on their farms they
did not always appreciate their
value. But necessity Is an inseni-
Gus task master; necessity turned
the attention this year of num-
ber of farmers in this section to the
fact that the trees on their land
we're of some value to them. SO
after losing money on two crops this
year the farmers found something
Of cash value on their farms. and
into town came the farmers, haul
ing logs, logs, logs. and leaving the
mills with real money in their
pockets.
The money that many farmers
have realized from the trees on
their wood lots this year for the first
time may awaken in them en ao-
probation of the value of their tim
ber crop. There are thousands up
on thousands Of acres In this sec-
ton set with young trees the. ere
so thick that they are having q
struggle to attain growth. If land
owners would 60 into these thickets
Of young pines and hardwoods, cut
out a half or more of the little stuff
and clear out the underbrush, the
remaining young trees would grow
rapidly into logs that would in a
few years be worth stacks of dollars
at hungry saw mills.