The Daily times-enterprise. (Thomasville, Ga.) 1889-1925, November 03, 1889, Image 1

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I VOL. 1 —NO 149. THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 3, *889 la. isr=r - We have heard people wonder why it is that at Lohn stein’s you can al ways find more customers than at any .other place in town. This question we can easily answer: The people like to trade atLohnsteins store, 1st. Because they receive every possi ble attention and consideration from the proprietor, as well as from the salesmen.; 2nd. Because they find a better selection of goods at Lohnstein’s ihan at any other place in town, and . Last, but not least, because a dol* lar goes farther and reaches deeper at Lohnstein’s than anywhere else. Politeness,square honorable dealing, excellence and great -variety, of stock, small mar gins and quick sales; These are the cardinal reasons for our flattering and unprecedented suc cess. And the good work still goes om Come and see us this week. We will divide profits with you. Bry goods, cloth ing, shoes, hats, complete in every department. Bar gains in every line. They are waiting for you. Come and pluck them. It will pay you. GEORGIA PINE. - ■■ -V < BY S. G. McLENOON, THOMAS- VILLE, GA. A Paper Read Before the American For estry Congress, Philadelphia, Ootober 16th, 1889. If the plantain should be destroyed in a day, more suffering would come to tho human family, from the loss of daily bread,, than could be caused by the destruction of any other single article of food. - In tree, life thapine does a larger service to tho human race than any other. In making this statement, I, of course, include , the whole pine family, from the two leaved pine of Europe, to the five- leaved pine of Central America. It is essentially the worlds house build ing tree. It furnishes fencing, fuel and freight It furnishes medicine for the sick, material for> the inann- focture of innumerable, articles,, and even its leaves are applied ltd. textile purposes, in this country in ibe man ufacture of carpetsj whije in Germany and Sweden they: are 1 , 'jfrroujghi'r into waldwolle, a product resembling coarse wool, and of this blankets and garments are made; .But I do ,not purpose to treat of the pine on so ex tensive a scale; Nor .-dorI ; intend even to consider it as ah American tree, for in America we have a dozen or rooro varieties. I know, it best in Georgia, and-I shall speak-of that part of tho pmu pahutris which finds a home, one which the greed of man threatens to make temporary, in the state of Georgia. • " ; The pine ot Georgia is found south of a line drawn from Augusta to Columbus, one on the eastern and the other on the' western border of the state. v There are, in the state of Georgia, 19,000 square miles of standing yel low pine. In area this is equal to about thirty-three per cent, of the entire state. Expressing it in another way it is equal to 12460,000 acres. Or putting it in still another shape and accepting the government esti mate ot the number of feet of lumber B. M. to tho acre, 1339, certainly a conservative estimate, there are 16, J 282,240,000 feet of lumber, in tho standing pines of Georgia. These data are for the year 1885, and .are- based upon unpublished • reports; now in the hands or Hob. : B. E. Fernow, Superintendent Division of Forestry, United States Department oi Agri culture. Tho “ent” in 1885' in Geor gia, in round imbibers, was estimated at about 380,000,000 feet. . If ; these figures aro entirely trustwoi tliy,'there were in Georgia, in - 1885, - tree*, which would have been, at the rate of manufacture then prevailing, entirely exhausted 1 in forty-three years. But the conclusions to which these figures would lead must be influenced by two leading considerations or condi- tions and their subsidiaries, else wo would fall .into error. In the first place, the cut/ cs here stated,' means tho mill: cut, the number of feet sawed iuto lumber dt the'mills, and this, as I shall show, is far.below. the mark, and in the second place, all the timber, that is all tho trees, ore net cut down for milling purposes, and the small trees left by the axeman, under fair' conditions, attain proper size for being sawed into" lumber in from twenty to thirty yews, Count ing the numbydfeycos. -w»rdls#fef sizo, on each acre, practical'mill men say that not moreThau froth twenty- five te thirty per cent are carried to tho 6aw. £k> here is a large reserve fund, the potential value of which is amazing* Bat to take up these, two questions separately. In estimating the mill cut as tho full measure of encroachment upon this source of-individual and state wealth, we fall far short of a just appreciation of the truo state ortho case. There are several sources of destruction lying beyond the field of ascertainable data. Among these I would, namo the quantity of timber used in making farm rad fauces, the quantity used as fuel for domestic purposes, the quantity destroyed by '•deadening” in the clearing of fresh land, the quantity destroyed by forest fires that sweep over turpentine or- ohards. Among the sources of con sumption not ascertainable through mill or market records, but stiff in reach of the statistician, I would sug gest the quantity consumed in fur nishing cross-tics and fuel to railroads. Some idea may bo had of tho extent of this encroachment by the statement of a single fact J. am-informed by tho general manager-Of one of our most important railroads/ that in1888, on 540 m|les of road, 277,000 new cross-ties were used, or 19.4 per cent. of the whole number of ties oYi his track. These ties each contained fifty-four feet B. M., and therefore this one road used 14,958,000 feet of lumber. This shows the life of a cross tie to be five years, less than it once was, and yet probably greater fliim it will be, for tonnage and speed, always increasing, are appreciable agencies in hastening decay. Not only are these pine ties used by railroads in Georgia, nut they are shipped oat of the state in large numbers to other statesand oven > to foreign countries. Adding the amount consumed in these varioqe ways, to‘ the amount sawed into lum ber, and the merchantable timber in Georgia in 1885, would not, I think, represent over a thirty years’ supply.- But in such an estimate, and ln fixfag such a limit of exhaustion,; Wo leave out of consideration the reserve fond already mentioned. And the preser vation of this, with its tremendous potentiality, as a source of health and wealth, is a matter, which should not Italy claim, but peremptorily demand the best thought of the state. Prodi gal thoughtless, reckless waste, char acterizes-the treatment of the ,pine forests of the entire south. The fact (hat Iftige profits lie in the hurried, preparation of pine tree products for market explains much of this waste. The pine of Georgia has three sepe rate values: First, its tax -value,' 2nd, rls market valuo, 3rd, its real value. The rate at which wild lands, andmori of our timber, lands -are so classed, are valued for taxation, is forty seven cents per acre, and the average tax for stato and county pur poses is nbout eight mills, or eighty cents on each one hundred dollars. Therforo onr 12,160,000 acres of pine land, represent on the tax 'books a valuo of 85,715,200. Its market value is from one to three dollars an acre, and at the average, is worth 824,320,000. Its real value is -alto gether another matter. Savannah is the largest naval store market in the world, and the President of the Savan nah Board of Trade furnishes me the following estimnto on naval stores: Two hundred acres ot averago Geor gia pino land, will cut one crop, or 10,500 boxes, the term crop ns here used, meaning tho 10,500 boxes. These will yield: Tho first year 40 casks spirits, 2,000 gallons, 35c,. 8-760; The first year 125 barrels rosin, grade N. C„ at 81.65, 8331,47; Total: $1031,47. The second year 32 caskB spirits, 1,600 gallons, at 35c 8560; The secondyear 112 barrels rosin, grade G. and F. C., nt 824c, $148,50; Total r 8708,50. The third year 25 casks spirits, 1,250 gallons, at 35c, 8437.50; The third year 87 barrels rosin, grade E. C., at 80c. 8111.86;. Total; $549.36 This makes a total in three years of 82,289.33, which is equal to $11.44}' per acre.: The 12,- 160,000 acres therefore in turpentine dnd rosin at 811.44} per acre have a value of $139,116,480... Accepting the government estimate UffHe nUmber or feet of lumber to the acre, we have 16,282,240,000 feet in Georgia, and.the present market value at our seaports is about 813 per thousand. Attnis prico per thous and the lumber in standing trees in Georgia has a market value of $211,- 669,120,: Exclusive of the value, now wasted, in tree tops, sjabs ana saw dost, of which could be made creosote oil an invaluable antiseptic, pyrolignous acid and other things, the straw which is, to a small extent,now manufactured into oarpets and.ypgs, and which could be applied to several other textile purposes, the pine-trees of Georgia represent a real valuo of $350,785,600. In this rati mate I leave out of consideration the VBtl|ipMthd'lAnd.for agricultural pur- poses.-" I know j will be pardoned tor digressing fust for enough to sug gest a practical test of their value. A few months ago a gentleman obtained the names of quo bandied farmers in Thomas eonnty, which is situated near 4he center of this pine region. The fai returns fond these in Georgia are made under oath by each indi vidual) of these one hundred farmers for 1879 and .1889, were compared. The figures showed that the average increase was nine per cent, or in other words these tax payers were ninety pec cent richer in 1889 than they were in 1879.: -. When, we remember that hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in railroads - and other enterprises in this country that produce no dividends, and that these one hundred men supported their families and annually added nine per cent, to the corpus of their estates, the gnthesis becomes' complete, and the value of theso lands, for agricultural purposes is established beyond contro versy. The limits of this paper for bid farther elaboration of this feat- The secret of the rapid and reck* less destruction of this magnificent domain, lire in the fact that the life blood of this princely tree congeals into gold as it trickles from the tur pentine still, and that every blow of the woodsman’s axe is echoed back by the falling of a silver dollar into the lumberman’s pocket. But this is a time when figures and not figures of speech arrest thoughtful attention. It is a conservative estimate, to say, that in every thousand feet of lumber there is a profit of one dollar and twenty- five cents, and that in three years there is a profit of four dollars per acre in the manufacture of naval stores. It is a simple sum iu arithme tic to demonstrate that in the conver sion of the Georgia pine into these commodities, there is a profit on lumber of 820,352,800 On turpentine and rosin 48,840,000 Total , „ 69,192,800 Here lire the temptation, and here }ies the danger. In the mad rush to grOsp this margin, the necessities and profits of the future in Georgia, and throughout the South, have been en tirely ignored and lost sight of. And Unless tho people can he awakened through such instrumentalities as this Congress and the Forestry Division of the United States Department of Ag riculture,; th r qSo jfeho come after us will suffer from our avarice and de nounce us for our greed. The prac tical question which invites solution at the hands of practical statesman ship, is the proper method of nursing to ripeness the young trees not con sumed, which ns I have said, represent from 70 to 75 per cent, of the actual number of trees on each acre. These are, many of them, turpentined at entirely too young an age and almost literally bled to death. The great enemy of the forest, aside from the axe, is fire, fire which comes in the wako of the turpentine man, and the one which precedes him. A most thoughtless, and I might justly say, ini-one practice prevails in the pine region of burning off the woods in •ly spring in order that a small lot worthless cattle may got an early bite of grass. Theso burnings impov erish tho soil by destroying the voge table matter that would, if left un touched, enrich it, and also destroy the young pines that spring up from seed. How serious this dnmago is, the future will fully realize. What the best policy will be, to husband this wasting wealth, I do not under take to say, but if, without too|serious an invasion of the domain of private right, it could be raado penal to box trees less than 12 inches in diameter, and penal to burn tho woods or set forest fires, I think a decided advance would hel made in the direction of reerving our pino. The mill man thins out, the turpen tine man destroys. The one cuts down only large trees, not over thirty per cent., while the other boxes not less than seventy per cent Behind the first tHe forest fire is hurtful, behind the other it is destructive. In one case it is simple assault and battery, in the other it !b murder. 1 have spoken of the State of Geor gia because statistics were closer at hand/ but what is true of Georgia is true of every other pine bearing State, from Virginia to Texaa flow pro foundly asleep our people seem to bo. The cry is going up from Maine and Michigan and California that pine timber is becoming scarce. I find the statement in the second annual report of the Division of Forestry for the year 1887, that 81.50 stumpage, equal to $150.00 an|acre,is being paid for timber In California, on land whlcjh could have been purchased a few years ago for from 82.50 to $5.00 per aero. Frof. Fernow quotes the Northwestern Lumberman as saying "the great study, now a-days, on the part of lumbermen in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while the pine is fading away, coneerns the avoidance of waste and the utilization of a|l tho timer in some way. Even wormy pine is being cut in large quantitire hy Saginaw Valley lumber man this winter (1887),'’ Hcnlsoquotes another paper as saying that many of the runs coming down the 8aginaw ore composed of veritable poire, which are.hardly worth the name of saw logs, and barely sufficient in size to prodace a piece of four by four timb er. And vet the thoughtless Gorgian will, for 50 cents per acre, allow his lands turpentined, when if he would only hold it inviolate, ho would pres ently he able to sell a single tree on each aero for the same money. With such facts before them, and such history behind, it is certainly none too early for the ownere of Georgia pine lands to begin to study how to preserve their timber and put an end to its wicked waste. Here is arich field open to the best efforts of that great organization, the Farmers Alliance. Another thought which is worthy of consideration: The pine forests are supposed to place, as a sweet burden upon the atmosphere, an aroma, an euxer of life, whose beneficent power will be attested by thousands. What this medicine of the air is,I do not presume to suggest, but if it can replaco that flush whieh is the banner of death, with the ruddy glow of healthful blood, or even old in such gracious work, the preserva tion of tnree.forrets becomes a matter of national conoern. Whetting for ’Possum. Some people have a prejudice for such feasts as ’possum suppers, but those who have the weakness are almost fanatical in their taste. Just here it is well to recall the conversation that occurred between two darkeys, who were fellow travel ers is a certain direction. One had asked the other what he considered the finest dish he had ever eaten. With due promptitude he replied, and mentioned everything that was suggested to his mind. But his appe tite wus evidently not aroused, os his companion afterwards found out. After relating, or stating every thing tempting that occuired to him, his companion said: “Well, de finest thing I ever eat was’possum. Jes’ get a big, fat, juicy ’possum, boko him till do grease pins all over tho plate, let him be good done and brown, den have taters packed up all ’round him baked well in do grease.” Tho other one couldn’t stand it any longer. Stopping his companion just at this point, ho said: “Look here, nigger, if you don’t quit talkin’ ’bout dat, I’m gwine ter fall offn dis mule right here.” This indicates how irresistiblo the ’possum is jyhen properly baked and served, and no one is to be censured for having n highly cultivated taste for this rich meat.—Albany (Ga.) News. An Immense Wagon Train. Columbus, Ga., Oct. ag.- -An im mense wagon train of cotton will reach the city on Thursday morning, from Russell county, Alabama. The or ganizers anticipate that about 300 wagons will be in line, with about 600 bales of cotton. The farmers, who arc all alliance men, will be entertained at dinner, by the wholesale merchants in the afternoon. The Muscogee county alliance men met here to-day and transacted con siderable business. They are sticking up to the cotton bagging, and are determined to win in the fight against the jute trust. A thorough tret on a considerable scale is soon to be made, on one of the Western roads, ot metal crossfire. The rapid destruction of our forests and the gradual decline of the price of iron and steel lead to the belief enter tained by many well-informed rail road men that before many yean metal will be extensively, it not ex clusively, need instead of wood for this purpose. The question will be simply one of economy, after a satis factory form in which to uso - metal h&s been found, and with tho increas ing price of wood and the decreasing prico of steel the relative positions of the two materials may eventually bo reversed, when the service expected of them is considered.—Telegraph. We give for the benefit of our readers an old fashioned receipt for a little home comfort: “Take of thought for self one part, ttro parts of thought for family; equal parts of common sense and broad intelligence, and a large modicum of the sense of the fitness of things, a heaping measure of living above what your neighbor thinks of you. twice the quantity ot keeping within yoar income, a sprink ling of what tends to refinement and aesthetic beauty, stirred thick with Christian principle of the true brands, and set to rise. IN THE CITY. Still another in voice of choice dress goods just received. Our Ladies’ Broad cloth in all the leading colors ig > certainly worthy of your attention. We are 60c. per yard under New York retail prices on them. In Oarpets and Rugs we down ev ery in this market, and we invite a comparison of pric ey with other and larger markets. In Ladies, Misses and Children’s Wraps we are head quarters, as we are in everything else pertaining to our line.