Pine Trees on Kinston Road Are Dedicated. . . Judge Winston, making Principal Speech, Applauds Spirit Shown by Association. . . Introduced by Mr. Weil. . . Using ?? Takes Place on the Spit that Marks the Division Two Counties
Likening the spirit of the Wayne-Lenoir tree planting association to that of Solon Chase, greenback candidate for president of the United States in 1880, as ?? in his own to ?? the late Governor Charles A. Aycock, “nothing gives me more happiness than to plant a tree from which I know I shall never seat the fruit, but that others may do so.” Francis D. Winston of Windsor yesterday formally dedicated the North Carolina long leaf pine tree, the gift of the association, planted along the Central highway between Goldsboro and Kinston.
The ceremony was held on the Wayne-Lenoir county line and was attended by scores of the leading citizens of both counties, C.E. Proctor of Kinston, was master of ceremonies; Dr A.E. Cory of Kinston delivered the invocation, and W.W. Riyers, Tuscarora district scout executive, told “Why We Are Planting These Trees,” and Rev. W.O. Cone of Goldsboro pronounced the benediction.
Judge Winston was introduced by Lionel Well of Goldsboro, long admirer of the North Carolina long leaf pine, and who has been instrumental in the replanting of hundres of the species.
The text of Judge Winston’s speech was, as follows:
Judge Winston’s Speech
. . . .
Planting trees by the road-side in North Carolina is a rather new venture. If one had suggested 10 years ago in our state setting out shade trees along the public roads eh would have been laughed at, and enjoined by the courts. The slogan then was to cut back the trees from the road so God’s sunshine and winds could work them; not so with ?? Shade trees along concrete roads provide just enough moisture to make them last longer. And so it has ever been with progress; the dreams of one age and the science of the next age, and the necessity of one ?? discounted by the necessities of the next.
In your name and for you I hereby dedicate these trees to the purposes of their planning, and to perpetuation of this interesting occasion. You will permit me to stress as appropriate to this occasion the subject of forestry in general. No territory anywhere has suffered more from the destruction of its forests than has our great state. Our forest waste has been more than our forest profits. Our trees have been cut without system and without regard for the possibilities and actualities of the future. Our cut over land in North Carolina, in many instances, are mere barren wastes. With care and prudence and judgement they could have been made revenue producing areas, instead of preserving our natural forest resources and having their growing daily for ages, we are now confronted with a problem of reforestation admitted by all to be a long and expensive process.
Service of Our Forests
Few of us consider the service our forest land gives. Next to the earth itself, the forest is the most useful servant of man. Not only does it sustain and regulate the streams, moderate the winds, conserve the rainfall and beautify the land, but it supplies wood, the most widely used of all materials.
When the early settlers from the old world landed on the shores of North America they brought with them respect for the forest, and for trees, created by generations of forest protection at home. They found this country covered mainly with dense forest. There was scarcely open land enough for a furrow. While the woods gave the pioneer shelter and fuel and ?? for food, those woods were often filled with hostile savages and those woods hemmed them in on every side; and immense labor was required to win the soil necessary for crops. Naturally the pioneer came to look upon the forest as an enemy, rather than as a friend, for in its jungle some foe appeared always to lurk, and therefore, respect for it dwindles and disappeared, and its place was taken by hate and fear. But even in that remote day, far-sighted men began to consider the safety of the forest, and its uses and future protections. As early as 1653 the authorities of Charleston, in Massachusetts, forbade the cutting of timber on the town lands without permission from the Selectmen; and in 1689 the neighboring town of Maiden fixed a penalty of five shillings for cutting trees less than one foot in diameter for fuel.
An ordinance of the practical Quaker William Penn made in 1681 required that one acre of land be left covered with threes for every five acres cleared. There was little or no follow up of these regulations, and the needless destruction of America’s forest went steadily on. About 1800 the American Congress appropriated the sum of $200,000 for the purchase and preservation of timber lands, to supply ship timber for the Navy, and in 1822 with the same object in view it authorized the President to employ the army and navy to protect and preserve the live oak and red cedar of the Government in Florida.
You recall of course the establishment of the Yellow Stone National Park and the timber culture acts. The formation of the American Forestry Association in Chicago in 1875 was the beginning of additional work in forestry at Washington. The next year official recognition was given that body and a special agent in the Department of Agriculture was named.
Although more than a third of the surface of the United States is covered by forest, it has only been within recent years that the protection and preservation thereof have assumed any degree of importance. Except China, all civilized nations care for their forests, and, as I just stated, until recently the United States ranked near with China in this respect. We are still far behind progressive modern nations in all that related to protection, preservation and conservation use of our forests.
For the rest of Judge Winston’s speech, go to newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93064755/1925-03-11/ed-1/seq-3/
From the front page of the Goldsboro News, Wednesday morning, March 11, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93064755/1925-03-11/ed-1/seq-1/#words=MARCH+11%2C+1925
For more information on the longleaf pine in North Carolina, see "North Carolina Longleaf Pines--Its History and Future" by Elizabeth Burns, an Environmental Science student at UNCW and intern with the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees this semester. She can be contacted through email at enb2817@uncw.edu. The New Hanover County Arboretum is free and open daily, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.