VARDAMAN VIRTUAL FORESTRY COMPANY

The Most Direct Link to Knowledge Workers in the Southeast Forest Economy

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Vardaman Virtual Forestry Company

FRIDAY REPORT OF 02/10/06

The Most Direct, Frequent Link to Knowledge Workers in the Eastern Forest Economy

TIMBER MART-SOUTH
Southeastern Average Stumpage Prices – US$/ton

ALCOHOL SAVES THE PLANET
The future of booze-fueled machines
By Ronald Bailey, science correspondent of REASON

Our title and quotes below are from The People’s Tycoon; Henry Ford and the American Century by Steven Watts (Knopf, 2005):

Our title and quotes are from the 02/03/06 posting on its Internet site:

“…in Science last week, another team of researchers outlined a path toward a future fueled by billions of gallons of cellulosic ethanol. Their vision of the biofueled future involves a great deal of genetic engineering that is guaranteed to give unending nightmares to the anti-biotechnology wing of the environmentalist movement.

“For example, the researchers foresee plant scientists engineering ‘energy crops’ to at least double the biomass produced per acre. They note that plants typically capture less than 2 percent of the light that falls on them for use in photosynthesis. They suggest boosting plant photosynthesis by installing more efficient genes from bacteria. They point to research in which genes dealing with nitrogen metabolism taken from a species of pine tree and inserted into poplars increased the poplars’ height by 41 percent and stem diameter by 36 percent over three years.

“…some forestry geneticists already use bioengineering to insert a molecular switch that reduces the tough lignin a tree produces while increasing the amount of cellulose. Another idea for softening up cellulose is to install a gene for the enzyme cellulase in energy crops, a gene which will later be activated to break down cellulose by spraying crops with a trigger compound just before harvest. On the plus side for leery anti-biotech types, energy crops could be engineered so that they did not produce seeds or flowers – which, incidentally, would encourage them to stop wasting resources on reproduction and just make more biomass…”

To read the complete article, click on: http://www.reason.com/rb/rb020306.shtml

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS:
Reading a Fertilizer Label
By Coleen Vansant, Alabama Forestry Commission

Our title and quotes are from Fall 2005/Winter 2006 Edition of ALABAMA’S TREASURED FORESTS

“What is N-P-K?

“The three numbers on the front of a fertilizer bag represent the three primary ingredients in the mixture; all plants need one or more of these nutrients in varying degrees.

“The first number represents Nitrogen (N). All plants need nitrogen; it helps plants develop vibrant green foliage. The second number represents the amount of Phosphorus (P) in the mixture, one of the elements essential for plant growth. Phosphorus helps plants develop strong root systems. Finally, the third number stands for the amount of Potassium (K), commonly referred to as ‘potash.’ It is also one of the primary elements for plant growth. Potassium helps plants develop beautiful, colorful flowers. The nutrient needs for different crops vary. For example, green leafy crops need two-to-four times as much nitrogen as potassium. Vegetables that produce fruit need more phosphorous. Rather than catering to each of these individual needs, use a well balanced, slow-release fertilizer that contains a fairly equal amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium…

“All fertilizers have three numbers on the label which indicate the fertilizer analysis, or ‘percentage by weight’ of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, in that order.

“A 50-pound bag of fertilizer labeled 20-10-5 would contain 20% nitrogen (10 pounds), 10% phosphorus (5 pounds), and 5% potassium (2.5 pounds).

“This product would be considered a ‘complete’ fertilizer because all three nutrients are available…

“Fertilizer ratio indicates the relative amounts of nutrients to each other. A 10-10-10 fertilizer is a 1-1-1 ratio, and a 20-10-5 fertilizer is a 4-2-1 ratio. You want to consider your needs when looking at the ratio. Example: vegetable gardens usually call for a 1-2-2 ratio, which would be something like a 5-10-10 or 10-20-20 fertilizer. Trees like a 2-1-1 ratio, which would be a fertilizer such as 10-5-5 or 20-10-10. Lawns usually call for a 3-1-2 fertilizer, such as 30-10-20…”

“OVERCOMPENSATING
By James Surowiecki”

Our title and quotes are from The New Yorker of 02/13/06:

“Markets thrive on information. The more investors know about a company, the more likely they are to figure out what that company is really worth. So when the Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed a new set of rules requiring companies to disclose more information about exactly how much (and in exactly what ways) they pay their top executives, it seemed like a market-friendly no-brainer. Corporations are already required to issue statements detailing C.E.O. pay packages, but they often bury important data in footnotes or beneath mounds of obfuscatory language, so that even sophisticated investors find it hard to get a clear picture of how much C.E.O.s earn. The S.E.C.’s proposed rules will require companies to disclose more about executives’ perks and stock-option grants and about their future pension benefits. Companies will also have to provide a single figure summarizing all the money an executive is scheduled to get. They can still pay their bosses as lavishly as they like. They’ll just have to tell investors what they’re doing…

“In part, executive compensation matters to investors because executives now take so much money out of corporations every year. According to the economists Lucian Bebchuk and Yaniv Grinstein, between 1993 and 2003 the top five executives at fifteen hundred companies in the U.S. were paid three hundred and fifty billion dollars. That level of pay makes sense only if it leads to better performance. But plenty of executives are getting superstar pay for journeyman work…

“More important, it’s becoming increasingly clear that, from a shareholder’s perspective, overpaid C.E.O.s aren’t just expensive; they’re downright destructive. One recent study of the market between 1992 and 2001 by economists at Rutgers and Penn State found that the more a C.E.O. was paid, relative to his peers, the more likely his company was to underperform in the stock market. The economist David Yermack, of N.Y.U., has found that companies that allow their C.E.O.s to use corporate jets for personal reasons fall short of market benchmarks by four per cent annually. There are myriad ways in which excessive or poorly designed packages can do damage. ‘Golden parachutes,’ which guarantee executives huge payoffs if their companies are acquired, may encourage them to sell out even when the company would be better off remaining independent. Conversely, according to a study by the finance professors Jarrad Harford and Kai Li, very highly paid executives are more likely than their peers to make acquisitions, and to receive major financial rewards for doing so, even when the acquisition ends up destroying corporate value…

“This doesn’t mean that all lucrative pay packages are a waste of money. But, more and more, big investors are treating excess compensation as a reliable index that something serious is wrong. In particular, it’s often a sign that a company’s board of directors is catering to the C.E.O.’s whims rather than supervising him…”

To read the complete article, click on http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060213ta_talk_surowiecki

“WHY DO WE PUT SALT ON ICY SIDEWALKS IN THE WINTER?”

“John Margrave, a chemistry professor at Rice University, explains.

“All icy surfaces in fact contain small puddles of water. Because salt is soluble in water, salt applied to such surfaces dissolves. Liquid water has what is known as a high dielectric constant, which allows the ions in the salt (positively charged sodium and negatively charged chlorine) to separate. These ions in turn, react with water molecules and hydrate – that is, form hydrated ions (charged ions joined to water molecules). This process gives off heat, because hydrates are more stable than the individual ions. That energy then melts microscopic parts of the ice surface. Thus a substantial amount of the salt spread over a large surface can actually thaw the ice. In addition, if you drive over the ice in your automobile, the pressure helps force the salt into the ice and more of this hydration occurs…”

To read the complete article from which this quote came, click on http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_directory.cfm, scroll down to “Questions by Subject” under chemistry and click on our title.

USED BOOK SALES

We offer for sale all used books listed at http://www.vardaman.com/booksale.php.

OUR SYSTEM FOR BUYING OR SELLING LAND OR TIMBER

For details, click on http://www.vardaman.com and then on the red horizontal bar “Buy/Sell Land/Timber.” You can offer to buy or sell timber or land. You must post the general area of your interest; be sure to include the state. You must also post your E-MAIL ADDRESS and the URL of your Internet site. Our tracking report will not report the number of visitors UNLESS you enter your URL. If you are selling, you should post the name of the tract. When you have entered all details, click on “Submit,” and what you just entered will appear on our Internet site at the bottom of the page under the red horizontal bar “Buy/Sell Land/Timber.” Be sure to check for and correct errors.

For each tract posted and whose owner posted his URL, we charge $0.50 for each visit his ad receives. On each Friday at 0900 Central Time, we will e-mail him a bill for $0.50 for each visit his ad received during the week just ended. You can pay us by e-mailing the money to “Vardaman Virtual Forestry Company” at PayPal or mailing it to P.O. Box 12293, Jackson, MS 39236. We will delete your ad when your payments cease.

BUY LAND

For tracts in SC, send e-mail to loblolly@surfbvi.com
For tracts in SC, send e-mail to rich@CHRISTOPHERRADKO.COM
For tracts in MA, send e-mail to leonelmtz65@hotmail.com
For tracts in OR, send e-mail to 7200moore@charter.net
For tracts in OR, send e-mail to ptodd@orclinic.com
For tracts in FL, send e-mail to hot63vdub@hotmail.com
For tracts in TX, send e-mail to reedkimbley@hotmail.com
For tracts in TX, send e-mail to gilmerboy2@yahoo.com
For tracts in GA, send e-mail to RNP1003@aol.com
For tracts in AL, send e-mail to jbeale@sterlingmanagement.com

BUY TIMBER

*For tracts in AR, send e-mail to dyork@digitalpassage.com
*For tracts in IL, send e-mail to psftimber@hotmail.com

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