The Red Cloud chief., 1875-06-24

Timber In Foreign Countries.
During the spring Of 1874 the British
Government addressed q circular to the
representatives of Great Britain in the
principal timber producing countries OF
Europe, in the United States and Brazil,
in Cuba and Honduras, asking for in
formation as to the production md con-
sumption of timber; information desired
more particularly by the Commissioners
of our Woods and Forests. Fifteen
questions were asked. These related to
the sorts of trees grown in each country,
the uses made of each kind, the owner
ship of forest lands, the causes Of in
crease or decrease in the acreage OF for
ests, the quantity of wood cut annually,
and the mounts exported and consumed
al home. Inquiries were also made as
10 the asccrtained influence Of forests
on local climate, rainfall, floods, etc,
and, particularly in Switzerland, whether
any steps have been taken to replant the
sides of the mountains, SO as to stay the
action of rain in denuding the Sol
Various reports or all the foregoing
topics have now been received, and may
I've procured in the form of q Parlia-
mentary Blue Book, from which We may
Gull here a few brief extracts, commend
ing the work itself to the careful attcn-
ton of all who take an interest in forest
preservation, a subject full Of importance,
not only because timber is indispensable
to human existence, but because We may
point to Palestine, to Spain, and probably
to many regions in North Africa, to
show how the gradual destruction Of
forests will change the character Of a
country and its inhabitants forever.
In Bohemia, during the past ten years,
a species OF worm, which seems to act
like an epidemic, has been causing
great devastation in the forests. The
entire side of a range Of hills may lie
seen sometimes laid bare of timber by
the inroads of this worm disease. The
diminution of forests in parts Of Austria,
and more especially in Hungary, has
been followed by baneful consequences,
such as long droughts and tremendous
winds, Which fill the air with ~unceasing
clouds of dust and considerably increase
pulmonary diseases in towns which have
become totally unsheltered. Pesth,
P~resburg and Vienna are now perfectly
intolerable during three Parts of the year
from this cause. At Rio de Janeiro,
thunder storms, formerly of daily occur
renee, arc o rare; and the cause is
supposed to he the destruction of the
forests which surrounded the town.
Hence, in 1852, yellow fever visited the
place, and has never left it since, though
trees are being busily planted in every
street. In Hesse and Baden greater pru-
dence has been displayed, four fiftlis of
the former Duchy and one-third Of the
latter are wooded, and the law requires
that every thirty years land which has
once belonged to the cultivation of trees
must return TO its original employment
In Sweden the timber u are i'm
mense; Lapland has never been surveyed,
but is reckoned, with the Northern
to contain some so, zoo, 900
acres of forest.
Unfortunately, the unceasing and enor-
nous demands for wood, especially for
charcoal, house building. and lucifer
matches, are telling rapidly on the pro-
.uctive power of the forests; this fact is
of worldwide importance, for there is
a maritime country, except China
and Japan, to which Swedish wood in
some form does not find its way. At
last, in 1874, u law.,was passed forbidiug
the telling of any trees less than z inches
in diameter, at 1G feet from the ground.
This statute applies onlyt to the Bothnian
If extended to all Sweden, as it
probably will be. it may greatly affect
the mining interests of Great Britain, for
it will cut of the supply of small timber
known as "pit props" In Switzerland
there is now a Sylvan Society, and great
pains are beng taken to induce people
to rcplant cleared and denuded mountain
slopes,i'so as to prevent the damage which
floods, landslips and avalanches have of
late years az frequently inflicted
Switzerland also has an jndustry-that
of wOOd-carving- which she had made
peculiarly her own, although it was not
introduced into the Bernese Overland
before 1915. This wood carving annu-
ally uses up an enormous quantity of
wood of all sorts. In Cuba there are
abundant forests, which must have in.
creased since 1868, when the instruction
broke out, for there has been very little
cutting of late years; but as we might
expect, where the Spanish are concerned,
no more care is taken, no less reckless
ness is shown, by the farmers who cut
wood for their use in Cuba than in any
other timbrr-clad part of the globe.-
Lind aud Water.
To Whom II Nav CONCERN.