Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Bulletins Experiment Station (MAFES) 6-1-1946 Farm forestry in Mississippi Mississippi State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/mafes-bulletins Recommended Citation Mississippi State University, "Farm forestry in Mississippi" (1946). Bulletins. 410. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/mafes-bulletins/410 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bulletins by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BULLETIN 432 JUNE, 1946 FARM FORESTRY IN MISSISSIPPI mm Complied by D. W. Skelton, Coordinator Researcli Informa- tion jointly representing Mississippi State Vocational Board and : Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station MISSISSIPPI STATE COLLEGE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION CLARENCE DORMAN, Director STATE COLLEGE MISSISSIPPI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgments are made to Mr. Monty Payne, Head, Depart- ment of Forestry, Mississippi State College, School of Agriculture and Experiment Station, and his staff, Mr. R. T. ClaDp. Mr. E. G. Roberts, Mr. G. W. Abel, and Mr. W. C. Hopkins, for checking the technical content and assisting in the organization of this bulletin; to Mr. V. G. Martin, Head, Agricultural Education Department, State Corege, Mississippi, for his suggestions and assistance in the or- ganization of this bulletin ; to forest industries of Mississippi ; Ex- tension Service, State College, Mississippi ; Texas Forest Service, College Station, Texas ; United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. ; and Mr. Monty Payne, State College, Mississippi, for photographs used in this bulletin and to all others who made contributions in any way to this bulletin. CONTENTS I Pages Introduction 6 PART I Forest economy of Mississippi 7-10 Economic importance 7 Timber a major source of income to the railroad Timber contributes to support of many other business enterprises 7 Timber as a taxpayer 7 Employment 9 PART II Kinds of trees in Mississippi 10-12 Conifers (needle-like) 10 Hardwoods 10 PART III Some principles of farm woodland management 13 Improvement cuttings 13 Liberation cuttings . 13 Thinning 15 Pruning 20 Harvest cutting methods 21 Selective cutting 22 Individual tree selection 22 Group selection method 28 Seed tree method 29 Clear cutting method 30 Natural reproduction 31 Artificial reproduction 33 PART IV Hardwood timber 44-50 Results of research 45 Growth rates 45 Comparison of increment and drain 45 Improvement cuttings 46 Setting up cuttings standards 46 Cutting rules 47 Cottonwood planting 48 PART V Naval stores production 51-61 Longleaf and slash pines—gum producers 51 Selecting turpentine farming as a business 51 Yields of crude gum 53 CONTENTS (Continued) Pages Turpentine orchards compared with natural stands 53 Summarized statements and conclusions on turpentining practice . 54 The use of chemical stimulus to increase gum yields 60 Turpentine stills 61 PART VI ] Preservative treatment of farm timber __LiLii::i :i 62-66 Requirements of preservatives ^ 62 Pentachlorophenol cold soaking treatment for fence posts 63-66 PART VII Marketing and utilization of farm timbers-i 67-101 Markets 67 Sav^logs 67 Pulpwood 67 Pulp and board mills 67 Poles, piling, and crossties 69 Specialty products 71 Selling timbei' on a grade basis, also delivered prices vs. farm prices 72 Piling and poles 73 Lumber 75 Crossties 75 Pulpwood . - 77 Comparison of volume and value of various size logs and trees 80 Estimating and selling timber 84-94 Estimating timber 85 Selling timber 94 Utilization of timber on the farm 94-101 Wood fuel 95 Farm buildings 96 Lumber 97 Logs and poles 99 Charcoal 100 PART VIII Forest protection 101-121 Protection from and control of fires 101 Loss and injury caused by woods fires 101 Causes of woods fires 104 Prevention of woods fires 104 Reducing fire hazards 105 Organized woods or forest-fire protection 106 Community fire protection 107 Fighting woods fires 107 CONTENTS (Continued) Pages Fire fighting equipment 108 Mopping-up 109 Pointers in fighting fires 109 Protection of forest from cattle grazing 111 Grazing cattle on longleaf pine forests 111 Cattle grazing in loblolly-shortleaf pine and hardwood forest 114 Grazing hardwoods 114 Grazing loblolly pine 114 Damage from grazing hogs in the longleaf pine area 116 Damage to longleaf pine by grazing of sheep and goats 117 Insects and diseases 118 Insects 118 Diseases 120 6 MISSISSIPPI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 432 INTRODUCTION Forests are one of Mississippi's most important natural re- sources. About 54 percent of the land in the State or 16-1/2 million acres are devoted to forests. About 14 percent of the annual income in Mississippi is derived from forest products. Forests and related activities also contribute approximately 13.3 percent of the tax paid into the State Treasury. It is estimated that the average annual in- come from farm woodlands alone amounted to $16,890,000 during the period from 1941 to 1944. However, there are a great many farm forestry problems and thus a dire need for better woodland manage- ment throughout Mississippi. There are many evidences of existing problems and the need for better forestry practices. One of these is the fact that abuu*^ ^.700,000 acres of forest land have burned, on the average, each year for the past 5 years. Another obvious condition is that only a very small percentage of farmers thin their forests or make improvement or liberation cuttings, nor do they harvest only the timber that is ready to harvest. In too many cases no cutting is done for several years and then everything is cut. In other words, clear cutting is too gen- erally practiced. Other unsatisfactory practices could be mentioned but the fact that the average annual growth per acre is only about 100 board feet is evidence enough that better practices are needed. Forestry specialists estimate that the average production per acre per year of Mississippi's forests should be 300 board feet or better with the use of good forestry practices. Through chemical and other research, many new wood products and uses of forest products are being found each year. Many of these products are necessary and some are indispensible in everyday life. Thus, forests are becoming, from day to day, increasingly im- portant. With the realization, by agricultural leaders and farmers, of these facts, viz., that forests provide a good part of the farm income, that forest products are becoming more important, and that farm woodlands could be made to provide a much greater income, there has been an increasing demand for information on this subject. The amount of experimental information on farm forestry is somewhat limited, especially in Mississippi, when compared to some other agri- cultural products. However, an attempt is made in this bulletin to bring together results of many experiments and other information available that seem applicable to Mississippi conditions and con- dense it as much as possible and yet cover the subject of forestry so far as it relates to farm woodlands and practices. It is hoped that this information will be helpful to agricultural leaders in directing and teaching farmers and farm boys to use better forestry practices, thereby increasing their farm income. Reference: Report of Mississippi State Forest Service in cooperation with United States Forest Service, "What the Forest and Forest Industries Mean to Mississippi," Jackson, Mississippi, 1945. FARM FORESTRY IN MISSISSIPPI 7 PART I FOREST ECONOMY OF MISSISSIPPI This first section is written with the view of giving the technical agriculture workers in Mississippi a clearer insight of the importance of forestry in the State. The discussion on economic importance was taken largely from an article by the Mississippi Forest and Chemurgic Association. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE Mississippi's first principal industry was that of manufacturing forest products. As a foundation of industry and as a source of em- ployment of our people, timber has continued to hold this foremost place to this day. In 1944, the sale value of finished forest products in Mississippi was $137,025,852, as revealed by the State Tax Com- mission. During this period some 60,000 Mississippians were em- ployed as industrial workers and many more thousands as woods and maintenance crews. TIMBER A MAJOR SOURCE OF INCOME TO THE RAILROADS Most of the railroads in Mississippi were built primarily for the moving of timber products, many are still dependent to a great extent on timber movements and some could not exist were it not for the revenues they receive from this source. The Interstate Commerce Commission records show that the class-one railroads operating in Mississippi originated in carload lots 11,149,230 tons of revenue forest products in the years of 1943 and 1944. This tonnage amounted to 45 percent of the total tonnage originated by these roads during this 24-month period. According to records of the Mississippi Public Service Com- mission, all railroads operating in Mississippi in 1944 originated in carload lots 6,079,050 tons of revenue forest products, which amounts to 47 percent of all carlot tonnage originating in the State in 1944. TIMBER CONTRIBUTES TO SUPPORT OF MANY OTHER BUSINESS ENTERPRISES Truck, automobile and gas businesses supported by