New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-02-19
THE DESTRUCTION or TIMBER.

TIE DISTRCCJION UT 1imp'|"'
The CELEBRITY and universally of forest ex-
tincton has long been theme OF regret ana
remonstrance Civilized countries, win lew
exceptions, may be divided into two classes:
1. Those which have already annhilated their
forests and thus converted their streams ana
rivers into raging floods in Winter ana Spring
and dry channels in Summer and Autumn {;
2. Those which are fast travelling the same
road to ruin. Of the latter class, ours is
conspicuous example.
Our primitive forests are fast yielding to
the rayagcs of AK and fire. and are not re-
placed. Instead of Half Million square miles
of the stateliest and best White Pine on earth,
VIC shall soon have stretches Of stunted White
Birch, Scrub Oak, Pitch Pine Swamp Alder,
&C., of little use for fuel and OF no value as
timber. We might and should plant forests OF
choice trees, but we do MT. For every thou
sand acres of good timber annually destroyed,
not more than one is wisely and well replanted.
Our poorer trees viii generally sprOut from the
stump, il cut at the right season and not
burnt our White Pines and most other ever
green's will not. The rugged hills OF eastern
PENNSYLVANIA, originally IA grand forest OF
White Pine, axe now half barren and hall
overgroWn with IA scrubby second gro WIN,
among which Pines are rarely seen.
Aside from its immoation b. pioneers in
tent only on making room for cultivation. we
arc destroying timber as no other people ever
did. We have $1,000 miles of Railroad, and
will probably have 100000 ten years hence
Each milo requires at least @OCO ties, which
makes tho present number in use ut least
1OOO0O,C00, rapidly growing to 2o0,OOO,COO Say
we need only 20,0O0,tI0 Per annum Tor our new
railroads, we need at least as many more to
reiit Our old ones so that our consumption Tor
the next ten years will average more than
40 900 900. And this is but little more than half
the timber VIC shall use up in railroads alone;
bridges, platforms, fences, depOts, &C., &c,
absorbing nearly as much as ties. A portion OF
those used in making the Union Pacific Rail-
road through Nebraska and Wyoming were
necessarily drawn from the forests OF Mich
igan, 800 miles distant, and cost from % to
So each whel laid down.
Docks, wharves, piers, brealwaters, &c, are
enormous consumers of timber. And many Of
these serve even shorter time than tho six
years life generally accorded to railroad ties,
because of their insect deyOurers. Piles Is to
Charleston, $. c., were found, after less than
eighteen months service, completely rddled
by the remorsees3 Ttycd0-sO LOncycOmbed
that they had to be replaced because utterly
worthless.
We should plant forests of choice timber
plant them extensively and at once. Millions
Of acres of the chin soil OF Massachusetts, Long
Island, New-Jcrsey, Maryland, &c, ought to
be covered with the best trees, instead of
worthless or none at all rs speedily rs may
be. This would arrest our harsh Winds modify
our capriciOus climate, and shorten the fearful
Autumn dr0uths which have been growing
more frequent and severe for the last fifty
years.
But this is not enough. We must learn how
to preserve our timber in use from speedy de-
struction Ivy insects or by natural decay. 1t
is profligate waste to drive piles where worms
are sure TO eat them up directly, or even to
lay down ties where they VIII rot i'll five or
six years, if the means exist whereby worms
may be repcIled and natural decay arrested for
a generation, for less than the first cost OF
piles or ties.
All this is obvious yet most Of our railroads
are built and our harbors improved by men
whose means are barely sufficient to defray the
inevitable and minimum cost of their undertake
ing 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.
A great many processes for rendering tim
Der comparatively indeStructible have been
patented and commended; all of them, we
presume, valuable. We shall not undertake TO
say which of them is most worthy of adOp-
ton. But, having learned that the process
which first exhausts the wood of its natural
juices and then fills its pores with creOsote oil
containing carbolic acid has been brought to
such perfection that ties may be treated by it
at cost of twenty-five cents each, thus
giving them thrice the longevity they
would naturally attain, we urge the managers
of railroads, tho owners Of wharves, &c, not
to adopt this or any other device, but to scru
tinize all the inventions for timber preserving,
and adopt whichever they shall find most
valuable. No railroad which pays twenty-five
cents each or over for ties can afford to lay down
one more in its primitive condition until its
engineers and superintendent shall have given
this whole subject % very thorough cOnsdera
ton.
AUDITING CLAIMS.