The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1870-12-01
Clearing Forest Lands.

designed to correct some erroneous no.
lions which some people hold in regard
10 hemlock land.
The article refers 20 Montmorcncy,
which ia well known to all around this
section, and the facts were obtained of
Col. Wilcox and others, who are per-
fectIy conversant with theu:
Yours, truly, ). SCHULTZ.
Many years ago, gentleman of large
wealth, living in Philadelphia, deter
mined to clear a few hundred acres OF
his vast possessions in the northern couu-
ties of Pennsylvania. He selected for
his experiment four hundred acres of
most beautifully situated hemlock tim
ber land. The growth of the trees indi-
Gated great strength Of soil, and as he
had many thousand acres of these lands
in the same vicinity, he determined to
test the truth of the theory so prevalent,
that hemlock lands are cold and uupro-
ductive. With this view be had felled,
ut the proper season of the year, a
square Of 400 acres. Tanners will ap-
preciate the growth of helnlock timber
.u this land when they are assured that
it would yield Is to 20 cords OF bark to
the acre, in addition to that which might
lave been obtained from the hard wood,
which, in that section, constitutes about
nne-quarter to one-third Of the growth.
Some idea of the amount of timber on
,hs land, may be obtained from The fact
shat, when this fa!low VAS burned over
the heat vas so intense that large liuibs
of trees were carried great distances by
she strong currents Of air created.
For two or three years this laud pro
-duced wheat in prolific quantities. and
for perhaps double this period produced
grass. but finally it lost its power, and
.to-day it is barren waste, hardly pro-
,ducing grass enough to pay tor moving.
Thegaaclusion seems to be that heu-
lock lands soon wear out, aud are CON-
tparai,veiy worthless. Against this con-
sclusiOn want to present few eonsld-
a-etions. wish | could base them ou
.chemica! knowledge, and thus make
them authoritative; but they vii! be
eueh tihes and conclusions as seem 20 me
satisfactory.
YNe lands occupied by the ever
.greens-such as pine, hemlock and the
lke-do not annually throw of their TO-
Eage as do the other trees ot the forest;
,aud for this reason, no doubt. the hem
yock forest does not accumulate so much
vegetable soil as the land covered with
oak, maple, &c. Bat what matters Ii
how much of this accumulated sol
fhere is if it is all consumed when the
ialow is burned over, as was evidently
the case when these 400 acres were
cleared?
1t must be within the experience c
al persons familiar with fallow burning
ahat where logs are heaped and burne'
it often happens thae the soil and eartl
are burned to the depth of one or tw
feet. until either stone or hardpan
reached. This log heap deposits, o
course. more or less ashes, which is
fertilizer, and will for few years pre-
-duce good crops, bur at.er the effect G
the ashes passes away there is no Sol
selt.
In the experiment under considers
sion, the whole 400 acres were a 10
heap, aud the accumulated vegetatlo
If a thoussod years ormore was destroy
ed in one day, while in its place was lei
deposit of wood ashes; that is the whol
case, and truly describes the practic'
clearing of forest lands all over tn
country.
The richer and stronger the soils, {
course, the taller and stouter will be th
forests, aud, when cleared in the usu'
way, the more certain will be the d'
struction. A moderate fire, such as wi
be produced by the burning OF limb
tops and brushwood, when well sprea
over the ground, is al advantage, sine
the chips and debris of clearing wouI
be all consumed.
1t is now proven tina. hemlock lant
are GOT necessarily cold and barren. III
couxties of Greene, Delaware, Ulst
and Sullivan, in New York State, pr
sent abundant evidence of the fertili
of hemlock lands. These counties a
to-day the best dairy portions of Of
State, and where the land is arabic
AL, are, for the purposes named, equ
to Duchess, Columbia and the old
hard wood counties. =.
The moral of the statement IS m
the tanner and the lumberman must
4irst as pioneers and fall aud remove Il
heavy timber; then the agrculturist M
follow, and with comparative ease al
safety burn the tops and brushwood !
naming. When this course is pursu
, hemlock lands are as fertile as any,
deed more so than those lands viii
produce the stnnted white oak, pine a
cedar Lands cannot be poor that be
trees from two to four feet in diamet
100 feet high, and more than 80 of su
to the acre. There stands the evider
of its strength, and only when consum
by the folly Of man does it pass away
smoke and ashes j. S. g.