Litchfield enquirer., 1850-11-21
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LITCMFIELD. Nov. IA. 1850.
For the Enquirer.
TR EES.
No. Ill.
Their Uses, Econoeical, dc.


On this part Of my subject need not
enlarge. The bare mention of some Of
the various uses of timber. will be suffi>
cient both to show the value of trees, and
the need of their preserva'im. Among
the various uses may be mentioned, fuel,
fences, bridges, docks, piles. ships, manu-
factoring purposes, and buildings Of ev-
cry description. Hence, not only one
cause Of their rapid consumption. but
also an argument for their ,judicioas use
and careful preservation. How the mat.
ter stands in our own immediate vicinity,
is well known. The price Of fuel is all
ready severely felt by the poor, and the
evil is increasing, both in degree and exs
tent. The difficulty Of procuring mate~
rails for manufacturing pu, poses is, in
some places, slready great, and must go
on increasing indefinitely; while in 9TH
ers, the manufacture Of some articles has
entirely ceased from the failure of mates
rails, or is continued only bv their impor-
tation. Our oak and pine forests are fast
disappearing, and hence our materials for
docking, shipbuilding, DC. are growing
scarce. Our furnaces. forges, railroads,
ito which there seems to be no end }
steamboats,, and steam operations f ev-
cry kind, are annually consuming their
thousands and their hundreds Of thou~
sands of cords of wood, even where the
supply for domestic purposes is bv no
means abundant, and where. to all ap.
pearances, it must, at no distant dat, en>
tirely fail.
What, then, will be- The condition Of
our country II few generations hence, un-
less something BIZ done to check the enor
nous. and in meny cases, injudicious
consumption, and ruinous waste that is
now going on. or to meet the wants OF
posterity by providing new supply ? Il
is useless to talk of our northern or west
ern forests--they are fast vanishing AZ
our eastern have done /; and what is left
Of them will be wanted where they are
Nor need we ray, that the old W ord is
not destitute, although it has been nhab
tied several thousand years; for in no
country has the waste and destruction o,
timber ever been carried on at SO merc-
less and geckless rate, rs in our own.
Circumstances have not required it. Th,
state and progress Of society have no
rendered it necessary. Nor do they even
to this day. lsay necessary, because the
improvements and progress of the age,
especially in this country, seem to require
large and increasing consumption
while the PURSUIT., or rather the ambition
OF the age, stimulate to too often reck
less and ruinous waste. Al the same
time tits very necessity should be a stand
ins argument in favor of the preservation
of our forests. and against all needless
destruction and should also prompt the
present generation to adopt some judi
clous measures for their renewal, wher-
ever there is any prospect Of growing
scarcity. But the only measures thai
can be adopted are. the cultivation Of ,
new growth, either by planting, or pro
tecting the Implanted, or both. Pre-
serve, then, us far as possible, the for
ests that we have. and plant and cultivate
wherever there is suspected occasion .
demand. for the good OF ourselves and o
posterity. II.
LitckJfeld. Nov. 7A, 1850.