Omaha daily bee., 1874-04-15
OUR FORESTS.
An Earnest Appeal For Their
Preservation.
Shameful Waste ofTimber-Efect
Of Forests on Rainfall.
Letter from Gen. Brisbin to Sena-
tor Hitchcock.
From the Chicago Tribune April 18th.


when l was more gratified than in
reading the papers the other day
that the President had made the
preservation of our forests the sub
ject of a special message TO Con-
gress, and recommended the pas
sage of an act creating a Commits
sioner of Forestry. L doubt if a
wiser recommendation has been
made by any President, and L hope
Congress will not adjourn without
acting upon that message. None
but those who lave tr~ee-growing,
and the criminal waste of timber, a
careful study, can appreciate the ne
cessity of Legislation on this subject.
We have now left untouched,
in the whole. United States,
but one really great tract
of timbe-, consisting of about one
half of Washington territory, and a
third of Oregon. California has,
perhaps, 500, 1000 acres OF forest, one
half of which has been cut away
within the last two years; but that
State, aware o. the future necessity,
LII htNAhlN dliNt W ltlt utEtltllDl VI
vi forests, has already commenced
the cultivation of the Australia-a
tree that grows rapidly and to great
size.
New York has lost her maple,
walnut, hickory, and has now no
considerable forest left, except what
is to be found in her Adirondacks.
The Wisconsin forests are i'm process
of rapid de5tructiOn,-no less than
l,O30,o 900 900 feet having been cut in
a single year. Tens of thousands
Oflogs are annually RATED down the
Mississippi to towns in Iowa, where
they are cut into lumber. One
firm,-Young & Co.. am told,
have a mill at Clinton, Iowa, that
runs 200 saws, and three fourths of
all the lumber they cut goes to Kan
sas and Nebraska. In one year, 1885,
900, 900 feet of Wisconsin logs were
cut in Iowa and / predict that, if
the present destruction goes on, i'm
ten or twelve years at most, not only
the forests of Wisconsin, but Michi-
gan and Minnesota, will be swept
away. Only consider for q moment
hat $1,000 acres of Wisconsin tim
Der are cut annually to supply the
Kansas and Nebraska market alone.
The Saginaw forests are now practi-
cally destroyed; and, if the North
ern Pacific railroad should be built,
Ii will open up and subject to the
AK the Oregon and Washington
territory forests, and then the last
great belt of American timber will
be destroyed. Let us at least save,
and Use with economy, the magniff-
cent yellow fir trees (many of them
800 feet high that cover this portion
of,our public domain.
The greatest cormorants we will
have to contend with will be the
railroads They already use one
hundred and sixty millions of ties
annually, and our railroading has
butjust begun. Ties have to be re-
placed every seven years; and, when
10000 miles more of rail have been
laid, it will require all the young
treesi i'm the country to supply the
demand for ties. A tie, as every
one knows, is made from young
timber, the trees being only eight to
ten inches in diameter, and few
trees Will cut more than two ties.
There can no longer be any doubt
that the rainfall and water-sourses
of a country are greatly affected by
its forests.
A peach-tree will give off IS
pounds, or about 2 gallons, of
moisture every twelve hours. The
evaporation, then, from the earth
through trees must be immense,
the roots often drawing from under
ground springs, and throwing off
through their branches vast
volumes Of humid air. Especially
Is this true of Kansas and \ ebraska,
where, at a depth of some 20 feet,
white sand is struck which is SO full
of water that, in many places, suo-
terraneous streams have been
formed, and are frequently struck
when boring for shafts for wells.
/ think the great currents of air
which leave the Pacific Coast humid
and warm empty in the SHOWS on
the Rocky Mountains; and, leaving
the mountains dry, they sweep over
the Great claims, finding no mois-
ture TO take up until they pass over
the Missouri and Mississippi, whom,
having been recharged, they empty
in Illinois and Wisconsin. In
Wyoming Territory, as we know,
the derth was almost complete; but
in Nebraska, the heaviiy-tim bered
heads Of her streams give some
humidity, and the clouds empty i'm
frequent showers along the Loups,
Niobrara, Plates, Elkhorn, and
Missouri. Those who have watched
the effect of forests on rain-falls, say
that by commencing at the edge of
a dry belt, the forests, and cOnse-
quent ~rain-fal.s, may gradually be
extended across the whole of the
dry belt. So We might commence
here at Omaha, and by gradually
planting trees westward, increase
the humidity of the atmos-
phere until the required
moisture for rain is reached
all over the Dry pains.
The deplorable result of the
loss of timber is now to be
seen all over Europe. The EIbe has
lost Is per cent of its flow i'm conse-
quence of cutting away of trees
along its banks, exposing its waters
to the hot sun, and consequent in
creased evaporation. The island of
Santa Cruz, in the West Indies,
which, twenty-five years ago, was a
garden of fertility, is now a desert
almost,-the result of cutting away
the forests. The theory is that the
dry currents OF air are retarded by
forests, and elevated until q point of
condensation is reached. Radiation
is also prevented, the air cooled,
and the clouds passing over b,
forests are rendered more easily con-
densed. Electricity is also a great
agent, the trees being negatively
charged, and drawing with great
power the positively charged clouds,
This theory is no longer doubt or
experiment, lat positive fact,
demonstrated by experience and
knowledge of the laws that govern
the atmosphere. i know yon agree
with me in these views, and il was
a conviction that they are correct
which led you to frame your great
timber-growing bill, giving every
49, 100 ~.