Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-20
THE RUTLAND HERALD,
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 1878
PRESERVE THE FORESTS.

The statistics furnished by Mr.. James
Little, of Canada, to one of the Canadian
delegates to the late meeting of the
Board of Trade held at Chicago, are
warning that the people of the United
States may well ponder over and profit
by the reflection. The object of the let
ter was evidently to induce Mr.. Walker
to oppose in the discussions of that body
the principle of reciprocity so far as it
relates to lumber. All his arguments
tend to show the rash folly of American
lumbermen, and the great value of the
Canadian lumber woods after all the
pine, spruce, hemlock and oak between
the head waters of the Mississippi and
the eastern seaboard shall have been
swept away. The question is one that
not alone interests that class of our peo-
pie who are engaged in the lumber trade,
but every patriot and every citizen owes
It to himself to investigate this subject
and apply the remedy necessary to
counterfeit the evils resulting from pres
ent and past recklessness.
The total amount of the annual con-
sumption of lumber in the United States
is stated by Mr.. Little at ten thousand
millions of feet, which production he
divides as follows; Maine, 700, 900, 900
f.et, rate which if kept up will clear
her forests in about ten years; Penn
syIvania, 5O0,O0O,OOO feet, which will
sweep away every available tree in that
State in ten years New York about
100000 900 feet, a greater part of which
will hereafter be saved by the taking of
the extensive Adirondack regions for a
National Park, and will throw the bur-
den of that supply upon other forests
Michigan produces some 5000, 900, 900
feet per annum, and is estimated will
hold out at that rate for some twelve
years longer; Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin have large forests that are yet hard
y touched, but the rapidly increasing
settlements of those States, and those
farther west, will absorb them in the
time tLat the older States are being de-
nuded. The balance of the supply is
scattered over the Northern and Middle
States, aggrcgating in all several humid
red millions of feet depicting all lumber
ing districts to such an extent that they
will not last longer than those of the
large States named.
We think this statement is somewhat
exaggerated, and that MIR Little states
the disasters that are manifestly coming
upon us as altogether too near, but there
is truth enough in hisstatements that we
ought to see that the time is rapidly
coming when our magnificent forests
vii! become a treeless waste. Within
the last generation large tracts of the
forests of our own State have fallen be
fore the AK, and old and middle-aged
men tell us that with the obstruction of
our forests the springs and streams have
dried up, and unprecedented drouths
have parched the soil and injured or
ruined its fertility. Certain it is that
nearly every year now lessons the sup,
ply of water that flows to our mills, and
that deep wells have to be dug where
formerly bubbling springs rolled their
sparkling treasures to the surface, so
that to us the question involved in the
destruction of our forests has a deeper
interest, than the profits of the lumber
trade or the loss of building materials.
The temporary relief to be obtained
by bringing in lumber from Canada, is
scarcely worth considering. That alone
would at best only exc out our supply
for few years and in the end involve
us in the same disaster. What we need
is great economy in the preservation Of
our forests, and systematic planting of
new forests to supply the place Of those
necessarily cleared. Every year should
lind as many young, vigorous trees plan
ted as are destroyed by accident, decay
or the woodlands axe. If one half of
the area of the United States is given
up to the culture of forest trees, the
other half must be more productive and
valuable than the whole would be if en-
tirely stripped of timber. 1t is impossi-
BILE for the land of New England to pro-
duce crops of grass or grain without the
humid atmosphere of growing florists,
and the best material interests of the
people require immediate action in this
matter. ..