North Carolina Newspapers

The news in this publi cation is released for the press on receipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published Weekly by the University of North Caro lina for the University Ex tension Division. APRIL 25, 1928 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XIV, No. 24 cdi E. C. Branson, S. H, Hobba. Jr.. P, W. WaKer, L, R. Wilson. E. W. Knight, b. D, Carroll, H. W. Odum. Entered as second-clasa matter November 14. 1914. at the PostofRce at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August E4. 1918. govesnoe s proclamation North Carolina has been endowed by nature with various and abundant i natural resources. Our streams are j numerous and powerful, our wild life, ' once plentiful, still holds wonderful pos-1 sibilities for furnishing food, fun and i recreation, our soils are fertile and our forests, influencing all of these, produce as great a variety of commercial trees as any state in the Union. Our indus tries dependent on timber are scattered over the entire state and yield a revenue to our people of more than $100,000,000. More than 76 percent of our people are financially affected by timber production. More than 60 per cent of the average farm and more than two-thirds the total area of the state is forest land. Unfortunately, destructive methods of cutting, followed by forest fires, have prevented regeneration, cut down the annual yield to one-half or ,pne- third of what it might be, and even reduced the capacity of the soil to produce timber. Each recurring spring, with its serious fire risk and with nature’s renewed ef forts to re-establish the forests which man has destroyed, the necessity for co-operating with nature in this effort is borne in upon the minds of those who are responsible for the ^^future prosperity of the state and the nation. This state, through what is now the the department of conservation and development, has for many years been engaged in skirmishes against forest fires. This campaign has developed into a war. The department has set forth before our people the advantages to them and their children of growing timber and only recently it has in augurated the policy of assisting land owners to plant waste land upon which there is no adequate forest growth and which is not needed for agriculture. The federal government is not only co-operating with the state in this work, but it has also established na tional forests in western North Caro lina for the protection of our water supplies, for production of timber and for demonstration in practical forestry. Eastern North Carolina is soon to share this benefit with the mountain counties. In accordance, therefore, with my practice in previous years and follow ing the example of the President of the United States, I hereby proclaim the week of April 22-28, 1928, as American Forest Week and call upon the people of North Carolina to ob serve it in some appropriate and con structive way.—'Angus W. McLean. PROGRESS IN N. C. North Carolina has made more actual progress In forestry and forest fire pro tection during the last few years than any ether state in the Union, Axel H. Oxholm, director of the national com mittee on wood utilization of the de partment of commerce, declares in his report to the department following a recent visit in North Carolina. Greater diversification, however, of forest industries in the state, together with close coordination of these activ ities with a view to better utilization of the state’# timber resources are the greatest needs at the present time. North Oaroltna must effect these ob jectives, Oxholm declares, if it is to continue its position as a prominent wood producer. This state as a whole presents an en couraging picture of natural resources, it has been pointed out, despite the fact that only 16 to 20 percent of its forest resources are of virgin growth and the balance represents timber of small dimensions. The committee on wood utilization which made these observa tions was established by order of the President, and Secretary of Commerce Hoover is its chairman. Its object is placing reforestation on a commercial basis through increased ^utilization of timber. The entire staff of the Appalachian Forest experiment station at Asheville, is now at work in various parts of the state in the interest of forest repro duction. It has been pointed out by members of the forest service that the education of the public to the great value of forests has’, gone far toward curbing the ravages of fire. The principal work of the experiment sta tion now is to find what trees will take PERENNIAL STOREHOUSE A people without .children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless; forests which are so used that they can not renew themselves will soon vanish, and with them all their benefits. A true forest is not mere ly a storehouse full of wood, but, as it were, a factory of wood, and at the same time a reservoir of water. When you help to preserve our forests or plant .new ones you are acting the part of good citizens.— Theodore Roosevelt, in a Letter to the School Children of the United States. the place of the disappearing chestnut, which will be practically exterminated ' in a short ti^e due to a peculiar 1 blight. Oxholm explained that the furniture industry and similar wood-using indus- ^ tries of the state could undoubtedly ■ take up the question of so-called small- dimension stock instead of buying long lengths and then cutting these into smaller pieces at the time of consump-, tion. One plant, located in Asheville, is using small sizes of wood, which in , many other plants in the state are ■ thrown away or burned. The proper ■ = utilization of every particle' of wood | private enterprise, and that all agen- would save enough timb'^er to build a 1 cies—federal, state, and private city every year, experts have declared. ^ should cooperate to this end. The recent report of the utilization!: The chamber advocates the follow- committee declared an increasing num-1 ing: (1) Adequate forest-fire protec- ber of wood-working plants are being ; tion, (2) taxation of growing timber established in the western North Caro-' upon the principle of the yield tax, (3) lina section and that the excellent new: greater federal research facilities, (4) highways will be a material aid in national inventory of forest resources, development of the forest industries. | (6) state forestry departments, (6) It was also pointed out that with the : forest management, aimed to accom- growth of the industry there will be a ; push continuous forest production, (7) demand for various chemical products, ^ reforestation of waste lands (lands not and wood distillation seems to have a | producing) at headwaters of navigabl| prospect in several pans of the state. I streams, by the federal government, Oxholm said that utilization of the ; and (8) reforestation of other waste chestnut wood is of immediate impor- , lands by stages and municipalities, tance, since it is doomed to destruction ! This position was determined by due to the effects of the blight. Through I referendum of the chamber’s member- efforts of the state forester’s office, the | ship.-Forestry Facts, agricultural extension department and ; the North Carolina forestry association, | NATIONAL FORESTS timberland owners are coming to real- j aggregate net area of the 169 ize that selective cutting will enable | forests of the United States them to derive a continuous revenue, | gQ jy^?, was 168,800,424 acres, officials have said.—Durham Herald. nearly 7 percent of the total land area of the country. National forests are now located in 33 states and in the territories of Alaska and Porto Rico. The estimated value of the resources 1 of these forests is $1,600,000,000, and the net revenue received from timber, grazing, and other resources during the fiscal year 1927 was $6,166,606. Of the total area of national forests, more than 132,000,000 acres lie west of the Great Plains, 21,000,000 acres are in Alaska, and 4,000,000 along the where favorable action is expected. Briefly, the specific objectives of the program are: 1. The continuation of the original program of forest-land acquisition m the White and Appalachian Moun tains on an enlarged scale, which will add 3,000,000 acres during the next 10- year period. 2. Two and one-half million acres, in properly distributed forest units, in the Lake states of Minnesota, Wiscon sin, and Michigan. 3. A system of southern forests, aggregating approximately 2,500,000 acres, in the pine-producing regions of the South. Expenditures would aggregate $40,- 000,000 which would be available at the rate of $3,000,000 a year for the first five years and $6,000,000 a year for the second five years. Passage of the measure will mark definite and substantial progress in meeting a most important phase of the forest problem in the eastern half of the United States.—Forestry Facts. ARBOR DAY Soon as he landed from the seas And limbered up his pious knees, The Pilgrim fell to chopping trees; And when he died he left his son An ax, a Bible and a gun. The forest furnished beam and ratter To him and all his children after. They swung the ax with mighty strokes And hacked down hickories, pines and oaks. They needed wood for house and barn. For spinning wheels to twist their yarn. They needed wood and trees were plenty. Where ten would d» they cut down twenty. Yet those old boys wo should not scorn, They wanted land te plant their corn. They needs must break the forest screens To raise a crop of Boston beans. Though in the boughs the birds sang sweet, The wooded land could grow mo wheat. Alas, their sons have formed the habit, And when they see a tree they grab it. Then haul it oft to saw and slab it. So in out day the trees are few On many hills where once they grew. The dryads all have left their places— At least we seldom see their faces. 0 if you have some steep hillside Where weeds and ferns ate spreading wide, And pasture grass has mostly died, I pray you give it back to wood And set in trees o’er many a rood. You may not live to chop the same. But future folks will bless your name, And fledgling birds in many a nest By your wise kindness will be blest. We also ought, in clays and loams. To set out maples ’round our homes. A tree, it is a pleasant thing In winter, summer, fall or spring, And we should learn and often quote. The verse on trees that Kilmer wrote, Before he left his poet wife And gave in war his good young life. In heaven I hope he sings and sees More tuneful songs and lovelier trees. — Bob Adams, in Rude Rural Rhymes. SURVEY OF FORESTS Beginning in Wake county, a survey of forest conditions that will extend into every county in North Carolina has been launched by the Forestry Division of the Department of Conser vation and Development. R. C. Brown, who will do the field work for the survey outside of the reg ularly organized forest fire prevention districts, has started the work in Wake county under the direction of State Forester J. S. Holmes. In the or* ganized districts in the eastern and western parts of the state, the field work will be under the direction of the district foresters. The'survey will be in the nature of an inventory of forestry conditions, with which it is proposed to tabulate the amount of available standing lim ber, the species, the uses and the amount of forest land that is producing and the amount that is unproductive at present. State Forester Holmes stated yester day that although the facilities and time will not allow as thorough study as is desired, it is hoped that it would arouse renewed interest in forest re sources so that counties would continue the work. One of the purposes of the survey is to show the amount of available tim ber that may be used in developing further wood-using industries in the state. It is expected it whl aid also in guiding the state’s conservation policies through providing basic information.— News and Observer. FORESTRY FACTS A Table Showing how the States Compare in Four Particulars The following information relative to forests and lumber production in the United States is taken from a bulletin, “American Forests and Forest Prod ucts,’’ issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, October, 1927. The first column shows the forest area in each state in 1920. The total ex cludes 80,000,000 acres of juniper, pinon, and chaparral in the southwest, but includes 81,200,000 acres of idle lands, once forested, but now incapable of re generation to commercial timber without planting. The figure given for Ne braska includes the forest lands of eastern South Dakota. The figure given for South Dakota includes only the forests of the Black Hills. The second column indicates the amount of publicly owned forest land in each state in 1926. National forests constitute 92.6 percent of the total. Few, if any, of the public forest reservations are entirely covered with saw timber, hence the area designated as public forests is in some slates larger than the total forest area. This designation does not include the forested land within Indian reservations, national parks, national monuments, some military reservations, and the unreserved public domain. Of North Carolina’s public forest area 77,000 acres is state swamp land. The third column shows the amount of planting done in each state up to and including the year 1926. This is done by the Forest Service, by states, by municipalities, by industrial organizations, by non-industrial organizations, by schools and colleges, and by individuals. In North Carolina most of the plant ing has been by done by individuals. The fourth column gives lumber production in each state in 1926, the last year for which figures are available. Nevada is included with California. The Atlantic seaboard, of which some North Dakota, and Nebraska, was only about 16 mil lion feet. Department of Rural Social-Economics. University of North Carolina forestry practice Declaring that American business is about to take into its fold a new industry-the growing of crops of timber by private enterprise-the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America is sponsoring a movement to arouse public interest m this important forestry problem of the Nation. , The national chamber takes the posi- tion that the major task of providing ample supplies of wood for the future needs of the Nation should rest upon 2,600,000 acres is land in the Eastern and Southern states at the headwaters of navigable streams which has been purchased by the Government under the provision of the Weeks law. Within the national forests are 16 national monuments and 19 national game refuges. The national forests are managed and protected by the Forest Service under the policy of “conservation through wise use.’’ Such uses include the growing and cutting of timber on a perpetual-crop basis, and use of range lands for livestock, recreation, and many other activities. The national monu ments and game refuges in the national forests ate also under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service.—Forestry Facts. FOREST GROWTH The net annual growth of the forests of the United States, estimated at 6 000,000,000 cubic feet, can be in creased to 10,000,000,000 b'S 1960 and ultimately to 27,000,000,000 cubic feet, or over four times me present produc tion, if adequate fire protection and businesslike forestry practices are put into e*ect on timbered and cutover and waste lands, says the Forest Service. The Forest Service estimates that neatly half of our forest area is at present producing no net growth, either because it is virgin forest where growth is offset by decay, or because it is so denuded by overcutting and fire as to be unproductive. The encourag ing forecast is that with provision made for a succeeding forest growth upon the removal of the remaining virgin forest, and with effective fire control, care, and planting, our forest area will again come into production.— Forestry Facts. forestry legislation A measure popularly known as the McNary-Woodruff bill, and providing for a 10-year program of forest ac quisition in the East, was passed with' amendments by both Houses of the 69th Congress. Action by the Senate was late in the session, and final ap proval of amendments by both Houses in the closing days of Congress proved impracticable. The bill was again introduced in the Seventieth Congress, State Forest area Public Forest Lumber 1920 forests planted production acres 1926 1926 1926 acres acres millions of board feet ...20,000,000 316,116 118 2,236 ... 6,360,000 11,363,022 1,837 146 ...21,600,000 968,842 1,272 1,697 ...18,276,000 19,236,068 66,134 2,043 Alabama Ariaona Arkansas California Colorado 8,682,000 13,424,828 34.676 71 Connecticut 1,461,000 44,643 11,260 42 Delaware 360,000 10 7 Florida 19.000,000 344,691 1,166 1,064 Georgia 20,000,000 238,638 103 1,366 Idaho...... 16,361,000 19,993,846 46,896 1,141 Illinois 3,148,000 42.608 40,431 29 Indiana 3,600,000 Iowa 2,314,000, Kansas Kentucky 9,400,000 Louisiana 17,366,000 l^aine 16,000,000 863,216 10,000 Maryland.... 2,228,000 28,764 928 18,477 8,640 179 12,000 220,000 446 183,066 41,284 1,800 207 204,200 16,000 .-.3,293 330 89 Massachusetts 2,241.000 209,603 40,000 110 Michij^an 18,400,000 1,210,002 46,323 798 Minnesota 20,900,000 2,037,020 181,642. 679 Mississippi 17,000,000 66 3,128 Missouri 13,820,000 71,600 10,000 187 Montana 13,926,000 16,474,330 28,227 889 Nphraska 3,600,000 221,193 213,982 jijevada 484,000 4,976,668 721 New Hampshire 3,944,000 440,674 8,843 261 New Jersey 2.000,000 80,969 3,602 10 New Mexico 6,660,000 8,666,466 2,090 162 New York 12,100,000 2,311,981 96,312 198 North Carolina 18.000.000 500,613 4,701 1,041 North Dakota 17,660 63,063 Qi^io 4,000,000 103,060 6,896 141 . Oklahoma 8,000,000 88.780 2,619 168 Oregon 23,276,000 13,461,164 32,014 4,216 Pennsylvania 12,000,000 1,329,148 76,416 381 Rhode Island 280,000 104 400 4 South Carolina 10,000,000 68,101 66 980 South Dakota 1,173,000 1,144,367 133,738 47 Tennessee 12,000,000 318,189 60 642 Texas 16,000,000 67,682 3,700 1,678 Ut-ah 3,600,000 7,649,283 8,260 6 Vermont 2,792,000 37,340,.' 9,294 126 Virginia 12,000,000 690,297 236 709 Washington 17.660,000 10,960,677 17,198 7,027 West Virginia 8,600,000 238,124 768 683 Wisconsin 17,800,000 338,000 6,600 1,068 Wyoming 6,716,000 8,628,740 2,982 16 Total 469,476,000 148,640,742 1,626,659 38,339