The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-11-12
THE FORESTS. in the ..old countries

! Americans appear TO have engaged in a reck
, less attempt to see how soon we could entirel,
: obiterate ours from the surface of the earth
: In the early settlement Of this country, when {
| dense woodland overspread its whole surface
: and covered the spots upon which our mos
populous cities stand, this telling of the for
: est was not only natural. but absolutely neces
sary. If the progress of demolition had ceased
with the necessity forthe cleaning ola due pro
: portion of land for agricultural purposes, j
) would have been well. but unfortunately it ha:
{ proceeded, in the absence of the necessity, fol
, the use Of the land which it covered, with suck
rapid strides, as to leave doubt whether in
another generation we shall not be seriously in
commoded in many sections of the Q. States
and especially in the lower portions of Louis
lana and the States northeast of the Chesa-
lpeake, for the want of timber Forests answer
the two-foId purpose of supplying shade and
timber, and also serve to protect the sources
from whence the springs and rivulets that flow
over and water the arabic lands, take their rise.
Fifty years ago, Humboldt predicted the grad
ual absorption of the small streams he then
found in Mexico, upon the disappearance of the
woodland that sheltered their sources, and no
one who had revisited the scene of his youth
after an absence of many years, when the de-
struction of the forest has been considerable,
has failed to discover that the abundant streams
on whose banks he was accustomed to gambol,
have either dwindled into mere threads or dis
appeared In no country, in a temperate lati-
tude, is the necessity for the preservation Of the
sources which supply our land with running
streams, so great as in northern Louisiana,
Texas and Arkansas, because in none is the
heat of the summers sun SO ardent; and vet
their possessors, apparently disregardless ofthe
results which are sure to follow, proceed with
the work of destruction for no other purpose
than getting rid of the trees. 1t would be well
for them to remember that they are rendering
their land less fruitful and their crops less GER
tain, in exact proportion as they deprive it of
that supply Of water which forms so necessary
an element in vegetation, and that what seems
to be present convenience may be ultimate loss. !
In most European countries there are schools of
forestry, where the pupils are taught the art of
woodcraft, or how to preserve trees in lawns
and forests from destruction. After the COM
peton of their education in these schools the
pupils find permanent employment in the pre-
serves and forests owned by the different gov
or on the estates of large landed pro-
orelors. In Germany alone there are eighteen
schools of forestry, all crowded with pupils
The existence of SO large a humber of schools ;
n one country, devoted exclusively to the in ,
truction of the mysteries offorestry, shows the
nxiety Of European governments to retain the J.
'rests, while we appear to be ANTIQUE to de- !,
lollsh ours. The rapid increase of railroads, =
as given rise to a demand for and a consump- >,
on of wood in the shape offuel, the extent of ;,
hichis scarcely realised even by the managers
the roads themselves, and not at all by the
at large. An idea fths consump- "
on may be formed from the fact that three 8
undred acres of woodland are annual stripped II
timber to supply oge station os the railroad a
aiding from Cairo to Chicago with fuel The ;.
rectors of railroads whichpass through prairie n n'
nds are in the habit purchasing all the. for in
land in their vicinity, with view Of ulti- c.
atey using it as fuel, and SC. anxious are they h
preserve 4his land for their own use that tn
ice is fixed for transportation of wood which AS
,ounts to a prohibition. The time is not re- ~
ote when these roads will discover that the to
Icy of supplying themselves with fuel for ca
9sent use, at the expense of the land through '! We
ch they pass, is anything but conducive to h l''
'ir own interests. 1t fortunately happens that we
lure has literally provided US with coal of all til
'ieties, which in the absence of wood may be sc
ID as fuel and the sooner the railroads adapt VI
mseives to its use, the better will it be for u
m, and the country at large. It is time for in
to consider how the remains of for ad
may be preserved, for however large they tee
present appear, in less than fifty years we a. "a
have use for all the timber they can sup N,
and if we do not follow the example Of the in
world, in educating men in the art of pre- ne
wing them, we should, at least, endeayor to
vent their unnecessary demolition Accord nv
to the American Railway Guide there are lib
completed, or nearly so, in the United States cal
242 miles of railway, and some idea of the en'
sumption of wood for locomotive purposes 1ut
7 be formed from knowledge of the fact GU
~, i'o' pas
each locomotive upon this iron network ati
consume near 1000 cords of wood annually. ext
annual consumption by all the locomo- all
S In the Union, is estimated at 100000 OF
Is The eastern forests afford about thirty ia
the south western average about forty cords me
rewood to the acre, but allowing their capa- SUP
y to supply fifty cords per acre, one hundred pro
sand ceres would require to be denuded of u '
r noble forests each year, in order to meet ACE
enormous demand for fuel, to say nothing of sea
amount used by the six or seven hundred pa
mboats plying on our rivers 'he