The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1861-07-03
From the American Agriculturist, June, 1861.
PINE LUMBER.
A LESSON FROM HISTORIC

The white pine, Pinus IStroJus,) is
perhaps the most valuable tree of our
forests. From the first settlement of the
country it has been most highly priced
for lumber, and it now forms part of
almost every good dwelling in the land.
The window frames and sashes, the blinds
and doors are almost universally of pine.
1t often forms the mop p-boards and shin
giles, the floors and parts of the frame
work. This tree was widely distributed
over tho older STATES in the North, and
occupied the valleys of rivers and plains,
where it was most accessible TO the early
settlers. The pine loved smooth, easily
worked land, and the settler did the samo.
The pioneer, in making bis clearing for a
farm, had no thought for posterity. lie
wanted 10 plant corn and cultivate grass
es, and the trees were his natural enemies.
They had no value except for fuel, as they
have none now, in many of the new set
Elements remote from navigable streams.
As the population increased, and cities
began to be built, it would pay to cut
and saw the pine, and send it 10 market.
The settler wanted TO realize immediate
ly upon his purchase, and all the pine
lumber was marketed that he could cut
aud saw. Thus all New England, except
Maine, has been stripped of its pine, and
even in the Pine Tree State, the pines are
beginning to fail, and spruce, fir, and
hemlock, are taking their place. 1t is
said, We know not how truly, that pine
from Michigan now sometimes finds a
market in Maine.
1t is only about eighty years since Yer
mont was settled, ard it is not fifty years
since the lumber trade was the principal
business at Burlington, on Lake Cham
plain. The region around for twenty
miles, back to the foot of the Green
Mountain range, was heavily timbered
with white pine. The men are now liv-
ing who remember the grand slaughter
upon these monarchs of the forest, and
the shipping of the lumber, through the
lake, and the st. Lawrence, TO Europe.
Trees from four to six feet in diameter,
and from lao to $50 feet in height, were
not uncommon. DR.. Whcelock, of Dart
mouth College, is said to have measured
a tree that stood upon the college grounds,
and found it 270 feet in length. But now
a'pine hundred feet high is rare OBJ
ject. In recent trip from Burlington
eastward TO the mountains, we did not
see an acre of primitive pine forest, and
but few Of the second growth. Other
varieties of wood are much more common
than the pine. Remains of the old for
ests are occasionally seen, in enormous
stumps not yet rotted in the ground, or
in stump fences, that have stood for
generation. The export of pine lumber
has long since ceased, and the region is
now dependent upon Canada and the
West for its supplies. Hardly an intelli-
gent farmer can be found that does moi
mourn over the indiscriminate havoc Of
the first growth of pines. 1t would take
at least three hundred years to restore
them.
Is there not lesson in this fact for the
lumbermen of Michigan and the North
Western States? They own the land, and
wish TO make the most of it, for them
selves, and their children. The clearing
up Of their pine lands is likely to 90 for
ward more rapidly than in Vermont, for
the tide of emigration moves stronger
westward, and we have an immense pop
uation along the seaboard, that must be
moro and more dependent upon these new
States for their pine lumber. AT present
they have but small profit upon their
lumber, because of its distance from mar
ket. The market is all the while coming
nearer to them, and, judging from the
past, the cost of transportation will be
diminishing. Will it not be better for
their estate, richer inheritance for their
children, to leave at least half of these
forests untouched by the ax' Suppose
an acre of primitive pine forest now
standing near the shore of Lake Cham
plain. With pine lumber worth from
$40 10 $50 thousand, and home mar
ket, every one acquainted with the busi-
ness, can readily sec the value of such
piece Of property. Many Of the trees
would be worth 500 and upwards, and
an crewould purchase respectable farm.
1t is worth while for the new settlers
upon these pine lands to look forward ff-
ty years, and think of their heirs, if not
of their own old age. Then an acre of
cleared meadow may be worth $50 for
cultivation, and an acre of primitive pine
$1,000 for lumber. OF course, the most
of the forest must perish to make room
for farms and the onward march of civil
izatiou. We only ask that the wants of
posterity may be considered, aud that the
Improbable experiment Of New-England
be not repeated.