University of Southern Mississippi - Southerner Yearbook (Hattiesburg, MS)

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Ignzzihilitira nf Glnt-ODUP1' Wine lllanhz BEEDIE E. SMITH H E Long Leaf Pine Region covers 132,000 square miles along the Gulf Coast, about ten million acres being found in South Mississippi. Between four and five million acres have been denuded of their growth of timber and await development. Less than fifty years ago this land was considered almost worthless and as late as 1910 the population was rated at twenty-four persons to the square mile. At the meeting of the Southern Pine Association held in New Orleans February 8, 1917, the main topic for discus- sion was, How to Improve the Cut-Over Pine Landsfl South Mississippi needs more popu- lation and many colonies have been started under the direction of the Southern Settlement and Development Organization. One of these settlements is situated near Wiggins. The Mills Seed Company, a New York firm, bought 25,000 acres of cut-over pine land and started a truck farm. In 1915 they had 325 acres in sweet potatoesg of these they cured 2000 bushels by kiln drying and sold them the following spring at a good price. In 1914 they planted 425 acres in water melonsg car loads were shipped out of the State, and the seeds of others were thrashed out with thrashing machines and sold. The Mills Farm Company, also near Wiggins, went into the nursery business, and now sells pecans, oranges, and grapes to customers to all parts of the South. Another interesting colony is situated near Sumrall on the Mississippi Central Rail- road. This is divided into a German colony north, and a Bohemian colony south of the town. Both together have about twenty-five families. The people that moved into these settlements and learned to fit their farming methods to Mississippi conditions were satisfied and stayed: while those that did not know much about farming in the South and insisted on using their northern methods made a failure and left. The ones that stayed are making a success by shipping farm products: such as strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and early vegetables. One of the prosperous dairies in the State is under tho direction of an Agricul- tural College man at Sumrall. Milk is bought from these colonies and 600 pounds of butter are shipped every week. The German settlement near Lumberton owns 6000 acres of cut-over pine land. This colony is making a success of dairying. It has all the equipment necessary for modern dairies, and every day 100 gallons of sweet milk are shipped over the Northeastern Railroad to New Orleans. This settlement has proved that the most economical way to build up the soil is by keeping live stock. At the Government Experiment Station, McNeill. Miss., an average of eighteen cows has furnished since 1900, S150 to S200 per month of milk, cream and butter, besides skim milk for pigs. These examples show that the twenty-three counties containing cut-over pine land can be made to produce crops. Besides the climate is delightful: the summer is warm with nights cooled by the Gulf breeze, which is felt a hundred miles inlandg and the winters are mild. The rainfall is heavy but the soil is sandy loam and easily drained. The soil of this land is deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus. The nitrogen can be supplied by leguminous crops and commercial fertilizers or by pasturing the live stock. Le- guminous crops, such as cowpeas, velvet beans, soy beans, Spanish peanuts, clovers, and lespedeza are grown successfullygtrucking crops, and such fruits and nuts as pecans, peaches, pears, figs, and oranges are at home in this section, and vegetables can be grown here the whole year through. Other crops are corn, cotton, sweet and Irish potatoes, and sugar cane. The cut-over land can be bought for about 35.00 per acre: clearing of stumps and brush will cost not more than 310.00 per acre. It will cost the owner from S20 to S25 an acre when brought into a good state of cultivation. Roads are easily made good and the consoli- dated schools offer opportunity for educational advantages. 22

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A Iirnhurt nf the lgrllnm 1Hinr---Nuual Sturm HE United States furnishes for the world's use more naval stores than all other countries combined. The manufacture of these products is one of the oldest industries of our country. The early settlers of Virginia, North and South Carolina engaged in the primitive method of burning pine wood in pits made under the ground to extract tar. The extensive use of pitch and tar in the construction and maintenance of sailing vessels caused these products to be called Naval Stores, a term now applied to turpentine and rosin, which have taken the place of tar and pitch. Since 1849, this industry has gradually extended southward following the course of the Long Leaf Pine Belt. The southern half of Mississippi lies almost wholly in this belt. During the last few years the State has produced annually approximately 4,000,000 gallons of' turpentine and 400,000 barrels of rosin, most of which is shipped to other states and countries. The Government Report gives the following Hgures for Mississippi: Year Establishments People employed Capital Value of product 1904 124 3,036 598,000 2,366,000 1909 64 2,836 1,251,000 1,475,000 1915 1,475,000 However, the manager of a southern turpentine corporation reports that at present these products amount to over 32,000,000 The large decrease in the value of these products- from 1904 to 1909 was due to unfavorable market conditions and to destructive storms. The turpentine and rosin corporation at Biloxi does an annual business of iB175,000. The Newman Lumber Company of Hattiesburg on its timber holdings works from 20 to 30 crops per year, a crop consisting of 10,000 boxes or trees. In 1916 this company ran 20 crops producing a total of 85,455 barrels of rosin of 280 pounds each, commercial count, and 74,000- gallons of turpentine. The manufacture of turpentine and rosin nowadays is conducted generally on a turpentine farm consisting of a region of timbered lands, worked by the owner or leased by the operators for turpentine privileges. The lumber companies with large timber holdings do not lease to the private operators but work their own timber. They use the same crops. only two or three years and then move on to an alloted area of virgin timber leaving the trees already Worked for lumber. Under this method of operation, very few trees are lost, and the turpentine industry is made to last almost as long as the lumber industry. The old method of boxing caused a great waste of timber and turpentine, especially on account of forest fires. While there is danger of fires to the timber cupped according to present method, it is not so great as to box timber, since the cups are removed when the trees are abandoned, leaving faces of the trees as the only source of tire risk. It has been estimated that in Mississippi 3 to 10 billion board feet of timber have been lost by the boxing system of tagppiling the trees, which delays the growth and furnishes a ready location for the beginning o a re. Since the amount of long leaf pine timber available for turpentine operations in the South is constantly decreasing, and experiments on the western pines have proved that they produce as much turpentine as southern pines, it is reasonable to believe that the naval store indtliistry will finally drift to the Pacific slope where there are large tracks of virgin pine tim er. This industry is of great importance because these products are necessities. Turpen- tine is used in varnishes and paints, and is utilized as a solvent for rubber and as an illumi- nant when mixed with alcohol. It is used very extensively in printing cloth as it prevents the color from running together and penetrating the cloth. By far the greatest use of rosin is in the finishing of ships but it is also used in the manufacture of paper, soap, oil cloth, sealing wax, fly paper, linoleum, printing ink, material for roofing buildings, electric wire, and lubricating compounds. Turpentine and rosin, pure or mixed with other compounds, are- very extensively used for medicinal purposes. 21

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0Bur Elnfuut Ilnhuatrgmftlliv Hllanufariure nf Haprr O APER for magazines, periodicals, newspapers, wrapping purposes, and manufactured articles is increasingly in demand in all civilized countries, the United States being the greatest consumer. The fiber used for making paper is largely determined by its cheap- ness, and in the early stages of this development rags were used. Later a grass was used and then wood pulp was introduced. At first spruce was the only wood thought to be fitted for the making of paper but now there are about twenty varieties used. They are: spruce, hemlock, poplar, balsam fir, pine, beech, maple, white fir, cotton wood, chestnut, douglas fir, tamarack, elm, basswood, birch, ash, and cucumber. With the exception of the fir trees and the tamarack all of these grow extensively in Mississippi. The Southern Paper Company organized in 1912 established the first paper mill in Mississippi, a million dollar plant, in Moss Pointg and in June 1913 the first paper was made. The refuse from the various sawmills of Moss Point and nearby towns that for years and years has been burned in tremendous quantities is now being used for the pro- duction of paper. Only the pine slabs and wood are used, the bark and small rough twigs not being desirable for smooth paper. It is estimated that every cord of pine slabs that goes into the mill will average 1000 pounds of wood pulp, which, when made into paper, brings from 7 to 75 cents per pound, or S140 to S150 per ton. The plant has attempted as yet only the various grades of wrapping paper, though the experiments show that this can be bleached to a light tan color and newspapers have been printed on it. This mill turns out about 35 tons daily or an average of 12 car loads per weekg yet this is not nearly enough to supply the present demand in the State of Mississippi and with the present advance in price it is clearly seen that Mississippi can make her paper much more cheaply than she can buy it. Besides cutting down the expense by establishing paper mills in Mississippi, large numbers of people are given employment. The mill at Moss Point employes two hundred people who are divided into shifts of eight hours each, the mill being in operation twenty-four hours per day except Sunday. The building of a million dollar paper mill in Hattiesburg in the course of a year is under consideration. Hattiesburg is a good place for such a plant since the conditions essential to the success of this enterprise are favorable: viz, an inexhaustible supply of fresh water that is chemically pure, an enormous supply of pine slabs-these last being obtainable from the refuse of the large sawmills at a minimum cost: and good facilities for furnishing its manufactured products economical transportation to market. All three of these factors are found combined at this point. The grades of paper at this proposed mill will be in the form of cardboard which will be used in making all kinds of paper boxes. 23