The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-01-06
Destruction of Timber.

NIHGnnNfn
and Michigan reyiyes the cnest;on
which had alreadv been sug.es,ad ~
fore these fires namely whenee 4 10
future demand far tia,bcr a III annnI;-
ed What with tberava.es az ,hs as,pas
and those of the woodma,,s ava con.
tinued now far more than . century
throughout the Union Il Is beeou,iny
a matter of diligently 10 And a forese
which contains the timber reapired far
building and engineering Tbe wood
has been fellcd with tbouobslessness
but little short Of dowuripht folly when
it is considered that available trees ro-
quire from thirty TO sixty years 20 AZ.
tain to maturity 50 that a tree once
felled cannot be replaced by the gene.
Grafton which witnesses its fall The
men of 1871 are depriyiog those Of 1900
of their chance Of Obtaining sufficient
supply OF timber, except at an expen-
siye rate. They might be excused for
doing this if there existed aIy impera-
tive necessity for the destruction ofthat
invaluable article, at the rate at which
it is now going on but there is none.
and according to the reports of obser.
want travellers, who have recently visit
ed tho forest regions Of the West, il
will not be long before the whole of the
vast region between the Mississippi and
the Pacific will de denuded. Very few
seem to think il necessary or advisable
to plant young trees or seed in the place
of those felled, aud so every year the
climate is changing, the rivers are dry
ing up, and the whole character Of the
country is becoming affected. There
never was q people SO reckless Of their
noble gifts as the American, especially
where the spirit of gain prompts them,
and 10 this matter Of the destruction Of
our vast forests they seem TO lose sight
Of the fact that the after. consequences
of such short-sightedness will be felt
very severely by our agriculturists and
others. 1t is we'll known that wher-
ever the land has been denuded Of for
est trees periodical droughts follow, as
surely as the sun rises and sets. For
ests retain moisture in the earth, while
vast tracts of cleared land become
parched aud dry. One Of the immedi-
ate injurious consequences is the dry
ing up Of small streams. Il has, indeed,
been frequently stated 10 the western
papers that the Mississippi, the Mis-
souri,, the Illinois, and other large
streams have become shallower Of late
years, and without going SO far as some
OF these papers have in the expression
Of their appreheusions, il is easy to
percsiyc thatthe cause Of this decrease in
the volume of water is mainly owing to
the destruction Of the forests. A sim.
liar denudation Of the country Is one
cause Of the rareness Of rain 10 Egypt,
and the Government there has taken
the subject into serious consideration.
Some years since the then Pasha, under
the advice of some Ffeu eli engineers,
caused large number of trees to be
planted on the banks of the Nile, in
hopes that through their growth u
change in the climate might be produce
ed, SO that rain might be made 70 fall.
The growth Of these trees has produced
the desired change, aud Of late years
rain has more frequently fallen in the
valley Of the Nile. NJ. DeLesseps has
planted trees along the Suez Canal, both
for shade and for moistening the atmos-
phere, with decided success II has
been asserted that the enormous accu-
mutation Of sand, which has buried
cities and monuments in Egypt and
Mesopotamia, was occasioned BY the
ruthless destruction OF the primeval
forests by the invading hosts who 50
often made irrnptions into those coun-
tries. The decay Of Spain has been
also, but perhaps unjustly, attributed
to the same cause at all eseuts, rs
regards that peninsula, it is well known
that other causes, such as the expulsion
Of the Moors and the Jews, aud the iu-
Aux of the precious metals from this
Continent, largely contributed to il.
But very recently the late Imperial
Government Of France, caused an in
quiry to be made by scientific men as
TO the results of clearing the forests in
the south Of that country, and the
unanimous opinion of these gentlemen
was that very serious change had been
effected in the climate thereby it had
become hot and dry, aud consequently
unsuited to certain branches of ngricui-
ture which had formerly been very
fourishing. Droughts had become
frequent aud destructive, aud hailstorms
sometimes took the place Of rain. The
same phenomenon is now observed id
our Western States, aud il has been