Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-03-06
The Destruction of Timber.

The Destruction of Timber.
! The celebrity aud universality OF forest
extinction has long been theme Of regret
and remOnstrance. Civilized countries,
with few exceptions. may be divided into
two classes: l. Those which have al
ready annihiated their forests, and thus
converted their streams aud rivers into
raging floods in Winter and SDring, and
dry channels in Summer aud Autumn
>. Those which are fast travelling the
same road to rum. Of the latter class,
ours Is a conspicuous example.
Oar primative forests are fast yielding
to the rayages of AK and fire. and are not
replaced Lns cad of half million
square miles of the stateliest and best
White Pine on earth, We shall soon have
stretches of stuntei White Birch, Scrub
O4k, P!Jch Pine, Swamp Alder, &e., of
little use for fuel aud Of no value as timber
We might aud should plant forests Of choice
trees, but we don't. For every thousand
acres Of good timber annually destroyed,
not more than one Is wisely aud wei re-
planted. Our poorer trees viii generally
sprout from the stump, If cut at the right
season and not burnt; our White Pines,
and most other evergreens will not. The
rugged hills of eastern Pennsylvania,
originally a grand forest Of White Pine,
are now half barren aud half overgrown
Sith scrub6y second growth, among
which Pines are rarely seen.
Aside from its immolation by pioneers
intent only on making room for cultivation,
We are destroying tlmber as NJ other peo
pie ever did. We have $4,000 miles OF
railroad, and vi probably have 100000
ten years hence. EIcl mile requires at
least = 600. ties. which makes the present
numeet ia use at least lo0,uJo0lO, rapid
liz growing to 2O1 100000. Say we need
only 2o0op,oOU pr anaum for our new
railroads, We need at least - many more
70 redt o1r OF On =; - that oar consump-
tion r tine u-Nr tcu wears Wal average
more thai Iu-oOo.aop- Aud thi- Is bur
little more than half tine t,mber we shall
u>e up IN railroads alone; bridges, plat
forms, fences, depots, &e., &, absorbing
nearly as much a. ties. \ portion OF those
used IN making the Union PLc:ie Railroad
through Nebraska and Wyoming were
necessarily drawn from the forests of Mich
i5an l.5UU miles distant, and cost iron s.
to So each when lad down.
Docks. wlayves. piers. brclSwaters. ~,
are enormous consumers OF timber. AMI
many Of these serve even shorter time
than the SIX years iie generally accorded
TO raiIroad TIES, because Of their insect
devourers. Piles l. to / = inches III diam
eter driven IN the harbor oil Charleston. :.
G. were found. after less than eighteen
months service. completely rjdd cd by the
remorse.ess Terea1-7o honeycombed that
they had 10 be replaced becaIse utterly
worthless.
We should plant forests of choice tim
ber-plant them extensively and at ouce.
Millions Of acres OF the tain soil of Mass
achusetts, Long Island New-Jersey, Mary
land, &c, ought TO BE- covered with the
best trees, instead of worthless or none at
all, as speedily as may be. This would
arrest our harsh winds. modify our capri
clous climate and shorten the fearful Au-
tumu droughts which have been growing
more frequent aud severe for the last fifty
years.
Bat this Is not enough. We must learn
how TO preserve our t,mber in use from
speedy destruction By insects or by natural
decay. 1t Is proaigate waste to
drive plies where worms are sure to eat
them up directly, or even TO lay down ties
where they will rot in FIVE or six years, if
the means exist whereby worms may be
repealed aud natural decay arrested for a
generation, for less than the first cost of
piles or ties.
All this Is obvious yet more of our
railroads are built and our harbors improy-
ed by men whose means are barely
sufficient to deiray the inevitable and min
imum cost of their undertaking. To get
the road somehow into operation, the
wharf somehow approachable, is all they
can do hence economy and forethought
are sacrificed to instant need.
y great many processes for rendering
timber comparatively in1eStructible have
been patented aud commended; all of
them, We presume, valuable. We shall
not undertake to say which Of them is
most worthy of adoption. But, having
learned that the process which first ex-
hausts the wood Of its natural juices and
then fills its pores with creo<ote oil con-
tanning carbolic acid has been brou ght to
such perfection that ties may be treated
by 1t at cost of twenty-five cents each,
thus giving them thrice the longevity they
would naturally attain, we urge the mana
gers of railroads, the owners of wharves,
&c, not to adopt this or any other device
but to scrutinze all the inventions for tim
Der preserving, and adopt whichever they
shall find most valuable. No railroad
which pays twenty-five cents each or over
for ties can affDrd to lay down one more in
its primitive condition until is engineers
and superintendents shall have given this
whole subject very thorough considera-
tion.-NeIo York Tribune