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The forest regions of the Southern States, next to those of the Pacific coast, contain the largest proportion of our remaining lumber-supply, and yet a survey of the situation by the Department of Agriculture in 1924 showed that 97 per cent of the sawmills will have used all their timber within ten years. While the bulk of the bottom-land timber tracts are on fertile soil which will, for the most part, be good for agriculture, there are also large areas, particularly in the uplands, which should be used for the permanent production of timber; and if you're a Southern boy, I look for you to be a great help in this work. In the Gulf States, with their sandy soils, the Pines are usually best suited to the purpose. While so many Pines belong to the "intolerants" we have been talking about, still this is an advantage under the circumstances; for it means that, although they can't share the soil with other, more tolerant, species, it also means that, for this very reason, they have learned to make their homes and live happily on comparatively barren land. Especially on sandy soils they will sprout and grow to beat anything -- be ready to go to market at the age of five, and, merely in connection with the necessary thinning, yield a crop every five years thereafter! If in the logging operations there has been left, as there should have been, a few properly distributed "mother-trees" to produce the seed, you can leave the reforesting largely to Mother Nature. About all you and the folks need to see to is that nobody sets your woods afire through his carelessness. If mother-trees are lacking, you can probably get from your State Forestry Department seed of the variety needed. It is better to seed than to transplant Pines, especially the long-leaf variety. The first time you help grub up a Pine stump you'll see why -- the tap-roots dig incredibly deep for the family water-supply, and to move even a young tree without injury to this tap-root is difficult; but this tap-root is the secret of the ability of the Pine family emigrants everywhere to rough it and grow fat in all the waste places of the earth. So that you won't think this phase of forestry is too easy, let me just add that your young Pines will do best if, for a year or there-about, you keep the land free from brier-patches and such quick growers as Sumach, Scrub-Oak, Sweet-Gum, and other trees of comparatively little value. The Geography of Trees that we had in Chapters III and IV comes in handy in the home-forestry business. For example, if you live in the New England States, you'll probably find you get the best results from White and Red Pine, Red Oak, Ash, Tulip, Poplar, and Basswood; in the Piedmont region from Ash, Tulip, Red and White Oak, Hickory, Loblolly and Short-Leaf Pines; in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, from Ash, Yellow Poplar, Cucumber, Black Locust, Red and White Oak, Black Cherry, and Hickory. But I must warn you of a deadly enemy of the magnificent White Pine, the White Pine blister rust. One would never think how to protect the Pines unless he knew the tricks of this particular band of forest outlaws. The rust fungi "gather their forces," so to speak, i.e., reach the early stages of their development, not on the Pines themselves, but on the wild currant and gooseberry bushes in the vicinity and make the attack in their "flying-machines"; that is to say, the dust-like spores which serve them for seed are carried by the winds to the bark of the Pines. Hence, as we shall see a few paragraphs later, in the story of certain quite recent "colonial wars," the strategy employed against them is to destroy these bushes in which they lie in wait. Many other species of fungi not only "ambush" their victims in this way, but, while hiding, wear disguises like other professional highwaymen; that is to say, they look so different at different stages of their development that nobody would know they belonged to the same class of people, if it were not proven by their records in the "rogues' gallery," kept by the skilled detectives of our Forest Service! Moreover, like other outlaws, the members of this "fungi gang" do most of their work at night, for the reason that the surface of the trees is them most apt to be covered with the moisture necessary for the spores to germinate. Apropos of Washington's Birthday and the colonial history which his name suggests it is both interesting and instructive to know some of the history which is being made to-day by two of the original colonies, New Jersey and New Hampshire, in their warfare on two very formidable enemies of Uncle Sam and the tree republics. As you probably know, it is quite an undertaking, sometimes, just to look after the diseases and insects which attack the trees in our home yards and along our streets, so you may well wonder how it is possible to do this successfully when it comes to dealing with trees covering thousands and even millions of acres. But, even on such vast areas, trees can be saved when sufficient care is taken and when legislative bodies make the moderate appropriation required. |
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