Here©s Georgia! LIBRARIES - the Digital Library of Georgia

Dr. Harper, who has
a more intimate knowl
edge of the woods and
fields of Georgia than
any other man in or out
of the State, points out
that the fears of the con-
servationists have been
exaggerated and that
our timber is not disap
pearing as fast as some
people have imagined.
•$>
Less than twenty-five
per cent, of the lumber
produced in Georgia re
ceives any further indus
trial handling in the
state.
®
Georgia has been too
generally content with
shipping crude materials
and primary products,
and too ready to accept
from, other states the
things which it might
better produce at home.
48 FACTS ABOUT GEORGIA
POND CYPRESS IN 20-MILE CREEK, COFFEE COUNTY
ing year 1,342,249,000 feet of lumber, valued at $17,100,776.00
This amount was exceeded by only 14 other states, and four of
those are considerably larger than Georgia. Adding to this the
large amounts cut for crossties, poles, posts, fuel and miscella
neous purposes, and wasted in clearing land, logging, turpentin
ing and otherwise, it is evident that some kinds of wood,«at least,
are being cut faster than they are reproducing themselves. But
the exhaustion of our forests, and particularly of our most
abundant and important tree, the long-leaf yellow pine (often
called Georgia pine) is not coming as soon as some have pre
dicted.
It will be interesting to quote one or two of the gloomiest
predictions that have been made on this point. In September,
1899, the following item appeared in The Forester, a magazine
published in Washington, D. C, (now called American Forestry) :
"The timber supply of Georgia has been estimated by lumbermen
of that State as sufficient to last only nine years at the present
rate of sawing, 2,600,000 feet daily. The timber resources of the
state at present are placed at one and a half million acres, calcu
lated to saw three thousand feet to the acre." This was probably
taken from some lumber journal, and doubtless applies to long-
leaf pine only; but the amount of that timber in Georgia even