The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1857-08-12
PRESERVATION OF FORESTS.

Where will coming generations get their
supplies Of timber How they will lament
the bleak and naked bills, and cry out against
US for despoiiing them Of their chief beauty,
and leaving behind us few or no traces of
our forest scenery, except in the painted
landscapes in our parors If our forests
are so valuable now for timber and fuel will
they not be still more SO in the next gene
ration : Then why strip them oil SO re-
morselessly? Rather let them be husbanded.
Let them be thinned out, but not utterly de-
moiished. A careful calculation shows that
sixty thousand acres Of pine wood are cut
every year in the State Of New York, and
that at this rate, in the year 1878, these
trees will have disappeared from this part of
the country. II is said, also, that !" the pro-
duce Of titled lands carried to tide water by
the Erie Canal, in one year, amounted to
%, 10000 worth Of property; that of farm
stock for the same year is given at 81, $50, 900,
that OF the forests, in lumber, slaves, &c., at
$40 1000. Thus the forest yielded more
than The stock, and more than half as much
as the farm lands" Shall we, then, utterly
and forever exhaust this source OF comfort
and wealth. Let US beware, lest we kill
the goose which lays the golden eggs!
Forest trees should be preserved, also, for
their beneficial influence upon the climate.
II IS universally conceded that the winters
OF the northern States are colder now than
they were thirty and forty years ago, and
that the weather generally is more windy,
fiuetuating and dsagreeable. We have
greater extremes Of heat and cold, and
seyerer drouths. Peaches once grew in
abundance throughout central New York ;
now, Il IS almost impossible TO raise them.
The wheat and some other crops are more
uncertain. These things are ascribabe, not
so much to any deterioration of the soil, as
to the destruction of our forests. Formerly,
our farms had belts Of wood land, which
broke the force Of the winter and spring
winds; our hill tops were covered with bat
talions OF trees which defended the slopes
and wales. The snow was not blown on
from the tender grain crops in winter. nor
were the fields laid bare TO the blighting
winds Of early spring.
One OF the greatest drawbacks TO farm life
on the western prairies is the absence Of
forest trees. Wood for lumber and fuel is
scarce, and houses and lands are exposed TO
the rake Of mereiless winds IN winter and
spring. Almost every mail brings accounts
Of extreme suffering at the West, on the
open prairies. TO make those lands para
disc for the farmer. they need nothing SO
much as the kindly shelter Of wood lands.
In conclusion. we earnestly plead with the
farmer for a more considerate use Of his
woods. Remove old trees, but touch the
young with sparing hand. Clear up your
valleys, but do not strip bare your hill-iops.
Leave groups and single trees here and there
in your pastures, both for the comfort oi
your aocks and herds and for the beauty OF
the landscape. Plant belts along the north
and west lines Of your grain fields and Of
your houses. For purposes of shelter ever
greens arc best but mingle with these such
rapid growing trees as the larch, scarlet
lowered maple, Dutch elm, bass wood and
Iyellow-locust. The time is coming when
they who exert themselves 10 save the rem
nant Of our noble woodlands. and who plant
trees for the benefit Of posterity, win be
considered wise men and public benefactors.
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