The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1871-07-27

must demand the more extended atten
ton of the farmers in the future.
Timber, as we'll rs vegetation general
y, grows almost spontaneously in Kan
sas. Kansas climate is especially pro
ductive Of increase to both beast and pro
duct. Long springs and falls and tn,
short and mild winters tend to . vigor
GUS development of all nature. One oh
stacle to the extension of the timber OF
the streams has been the devastating prai
ne fres that sweep the whole surface O
the country each year. Where, through
the protecting arm Of Improvement the
fires have been stayed in their travels, thu
soil adjacent to water courses have borne
. thrifty underground, which, in . couple
or three years, develope into sturdy sap
lings. Upon our highest lands, in some
cultivated fields, cottonwood saplings
spring up at irregular distances from seed
waited from the far-of timber and with
attention and care and re-arrangins be.
come pleasant little forests.
There are two reasons, beyond others,
that should induce land owners to grow
timber. One is to supply the demands
Of the coming years and the other to con.
tinue those climatic changes that are
working out that grand problem that pro.
nounces Kansas to be great agricultural
State. 1t is within the mind of man now
living that all the country west of the
Missouri was considered an arid desert,
unworthy the habitation of man and des-
tined alone to remain the home of the
red man and the untamed beast. As civ
ilization began to extend its ameliorat.
ing influences on west the country was
still decried as drouthy and unproductive
and to remain such, but few perscver-
ing souls have proved it all . delusion,
and there are those who are equally sur
prired and gratified At the changes that
have taken place in Kansas of late years.
The croakcrs of the past have given way
to admirers and all vie with each other in
praising the abundance of rain, the fruit
fulness Of the soil and our general facil-
tiles. This fruitfalness is attributable to
the increase ofrain, cultivation of the soil,
growth of timber and to miner causes.
Timber moro properly influences rain
fall, as seasons tending to be dry bear
evidence, and then the course and direc-
ton of streams have alone been ascer-
tanned from the heaviest clouds overhang-
ing certain districts. A secondary con-
though not so important an
one, is to furnish the future generations
with lumber, fuel and timber for all need
ed purposes. Railroads, in . short time,
will bring to us lumber and coal at cheap
rates, but we should not nor do we, wish
to supply ourselves with foreign articles.
1t would be too much of q drain upon
our resources and retard our advance
ment. Our success ~ State must be
measured by our ability to supply home
consumption. Where the principal arti-
cles of utility have to be purchased away
the opportunities for the poor man are
limited.
It is very important that the farmers
of Western Kansas should cultivate tim
Der. It is more Of . necessity with them
than with the older portions of the State.
Most of those other sections are moro
favored than we. While some of them
had larger bodies Of timber 10 commence
with, they have been longer settled and
the people have been moro careful in pro-
tecting what they had and in fostering
the oncoming growth. We have safic-
iency of timber, Of both hard and soft
woods forpresent purposes but We should
provide for the future. In fifteen years
there can be one hundred thousand more
acres of tip-top timber than there are now
inSalinc county. The comparative scare
ity of timber is about the only fault Of
our country of which We can complain,
but this defect can be.rcmedied without
much effort. Let our valleys and our t.
bic lands be covered with 6ne bodies Of
young growing trees. They will soften
our winds, regulate our rains and add
to the beauty and worth Of our coun-
try. The little labor and time and small