Another Angle Concerning Timber CuttingThe Crop Matures and Must be Harvested

By Jack Dionne

I have a great file of letters of commendation and approval as a result of the recent articles in defense of the cutting of the forests. They come from ocean to ocean, and from Canada to the Gulf.

Several of them urge that I go further in the matter and discuss one particular point that was not particularly stressed in the two recent articles-namely-the fact that a crop of trees is like any other crop-it grows, develops, matures, and thgn decays, and ifit is to confer its maximum of service it must be harvested before decay takes place.

This rS one thought that is given all too lrttre attention when timber cutting is ordinarily co,nsidered and discussed.

Of course, this argument does not prevail with equal force concerning all tree crops. Those trees that develop slowest, stand for a long time without apparent deterioration, and the same rule cannot be laid down upon all of them. For instance, a mature Redwood may stand for hundreds more years (so far as we know) without deteriorating; but a Southern Pine that has reached full growth and maturity, almost immediately begins to age, and deteriorate. And this is true in varying degree of all of the Pine species.

So, in this article, I am going to discuss this matter with particular reference to the Southern Pineq and will approach other species and other territories later.

Mr. R. I{. Downman of New Orleans, the famous C5press manufacturer, and student of lumber things in general, calls my particular attention to this phase of timber cutting in the South. He reminds us of the fact that ALL the Pine of the South is of comparative recent date. When the ex- plorer De Soto discovered the Mississippi River in 1541, he describes the country along the river from what is now Memphis, Tenn., south, as a country of "vast savannahs". He apparently saw no forests.

Yet that entire territory was covered with Pine forests fifty years ago, and the mills have been cutting away in that territory for two generations.

Mr. Downman tells of a visit he made to a camp that was maintained in 1913 in a great Louisiana Pine forest by the Yale Forestry School, under the direction of Dr. Bryan, and at that time Dr. Bryan told him that the mature forests that they were then studying were about 200 years of age, judging by their rings and age signq and THAT ONE-FOURTH OF THE TIMBER WAS ALREADY OVERIRIPE AND SHOWING SIGNS OF RED HEART.

Red Heart, as every Southern lumberman knows, is the beginning of decay that sets into the heart of Southern Pine as soon as it gets overage, and Red Heart trees must be harvested quickly or they soon take on advanced conditions of decay, and become valueless. Dr. Bryan told Mr. Downman on that visit that those forests must be harvested as soon as possible, as the timber was deteriorating from age.

This is true of most of the timber districts of the South. They find a certain amount of Red Heart in all pine timber, and it is a well known fact that in the past twenty years some of the best looking and highest priced Pine timber ever sold turned out to be already past the age meridian and so filled with Red Heart as to make the investment a very bad one for the purchasers.

The average stand of Southern Pine timber today, if

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left untouched for fifty years, would be so badly deteriorated from over-age, Red Heart and decay that its value'would be negligible.

This oft-repeated phrase about "destroying this great natural resource" is just plain bunk, so far as practical facts are concerned, in Southern'Pine. We have previously discussed the compa.rative value of trees if the law should forbid their cutting, and under present conditions. Forests have no value except their potential lumber value. Without that they are worthless and untaxable.

And in addition, if left standing too long, they lose their strength and quality through age, and their value slips away.

Trees must be harvested in their prime, like any other crop.

More crops of trees can and will be grown. There can be no doubt as to that.

But I cling to the idea that tree growing is NOT a practical proposition cornmercially. There are men who say crops of trees CAN be grown for profit, and a return rnade on the investment. But few men desire to invest their world's goods in a crop that takes anywhere from one to several generations to harvest.

It requires an unlimited bank roll, and unlimited life, to make such a proposition interesting, and we know no men who have either. The Government, which endures, should go into the business of growing forests.

And, while that is being done, private enterprise cannot serve humanity by permitting the present crop to rot on the stump, as any forestry exp,ert can tell you the Pines WILL do, if left stand far past maturity.

PACIFIC SPRUOE CORPORATION BUYS STEAMIE,R

Toledo, Ore., April12.-The Pacific Spruce Corporation announces the purchase of a seconcl steel lumber carrier that will be a sister ship for the steamer Robert Johnson, which has been making regular trips to Yaquina Bay for the company for about three years. The ship was purchased at San Francisco, and will make the first voyage as soon as equipment is completed, under the command of Captain Martin Johnson.

The C. D. Joheson Lurnber Co. are exclusive selling agents for the Pacific Spruce Corporation.

C. E. MERTRITT IS CHO,SEN PRESIDENT OF RIED CEDA,R SHINGLE BURE,AU

At a recent meeting of the advisory board of the Red Cedar Shingle Birreau held at Seattle, C. E. Merritt of the Huntting Merritt Lumber Co., Vancouver, B. C., was elected president, ancl W. C. McMaster, John McMaster Shingle Co., Seattle, rvas elected vice rpresident. R. S. Whiting, Chicago, continues as secretary-rlrlstl?S€r, and Arthur Bevan, Seattle, as assistant secretary-manager and treasurer.

The Red Cedar Shingle Bureau is international in its scope, and takes in the entire shingle industry of the Northwest.

SCTIOO,NER ..IRENE'' AR,RIVES AT SAN PED,RO

The four-masted schooner "Irene,"givenup for lost when outfrom Gray's Harbor for 135 days without any reports, put into the port of San Pedro on the afterroon of April 22nd, with all hands safe.

Officers told a remarkable tale of their battle with the elements, and of their giving up the attempt to reach the Panama Canal after days of fighting in the vicinity of the equator.

She was bound from Gray's Harbor for Miami, Florida, rvith a full cargo of lumber.