Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-05-09
VARIETY.
Thinning Forests.

q
is to be reptobated Nordo we. believe the
method sometimes recommended OF cutting
q forest clean as you GO, is n good rule for
all cases. II may be advisablein those cas-
Us whore the forest is uniformly old and
most of the trees are growing worse, rather
than better, for timber. But this is the
character Of very little forest land in the
older States Almost ali Of it is second or
third growth Of timber, and contains great
many thrifty sapllngS from FIVE toi years
old, that, if cut, will only put back the sub
sequent crop of wood 10 many years. Silas
Brown, one of the best farmers in Massachu-
sets, says in recent communication in the
New England Farmer, that he has been in
,ftho habit Of cutting wood for market for
forty years as one of the most profitable
productions Of his farm, and that he has
paid critical attention to the succeeding
growth. "At the time of removing the old
growth, young white pines had sprung up,
and had advanced in all sizes, from one foot
up 10 some twenty feet in height on some
of my lois on other lots there was was no
appearance of young progeny. We were
very careful to save all the young trees pos
sible, instead of indiscriminate havoc The
advantage of saving the saplngs will be
readily discerned. by every practical wood
growers; the young trees, carefully prcserv-
ed from injury while cutting off the old
growth, WILSON take start and be in ad-
vance ofth forest, which is to spting from
the seed. some FIVE to fifteen or twenty
years. This advance in the growth is no
small item in the farmers income. On lots
where none of these young saplings had Ia
ken root. have been careful to select suit
able seed trees Of the varieties wished TO.
promulgate, and spared one or more on .ev-
cry acre | wished 10 repenish with a future
growth. In this way | have been saved
The labor OF sowing the seed or transplan,re
the trees, and have found, about the third
or fourth year from the cutting off. plen-
tful supply of young trees showing them
selves, but greatly in rear of lots where the
young saplings were saved"
This is valuable testimony from an intelli-
gent farmer, who has seen the working of
both methods on his own wood lands
The care of our forests, SO rapidly waning
in all the older States, is matter that can
receive attention none too soon The time
is not distant when they will be far more
valuable than they now are for timber. if
not for fuel. Fuel we may indeed find else
where, but nothing can ever supply the
place Of wood in'mony Of our manufactotes.
The farmers of the present day should con
slider the wants of posterity in this respect,
and should hand down their farms to their
heirs MS we'll wooded as they received them
from their fathers. There are large tracts
of county in this State, and indeed in the
rousaer portions OF all the States, that
may be more prof;ably kept in timber than
in anything else, II Is a poor Inheritance
to hand down to ones heir miserable.
worn-out farm not only stripped of its soil
but denuded of its forests, without any
available means to restore its wasted ener-
gies. The rocky hill-tops and ridges should
always be kept in forest. The plains and
valleys below will have mider climateand
be more productive for their protection.
Where these elevations have been stripped
they should be Immediately sown with seeds
of forest trees. Too much of this rough
land has already been cleared up in many
parts of The county, ,--d dmerica@ Agricuitu-
riSt.
From the Rochester (N " American of Tuesday