The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-12-01
December Magazines.


The December number opens with athOught-
the life Of the lumbcrman being illustrated by
half dozen of vigorous drawings. 1t is not,
however, in the vivid portrayal of the life of
the rugged forester that the article finds its
main interest, but IN the question it propounds :
Under such a tremendous yearly drain, the
question naturally comes up, how long will
our forests hold out at the present rate Of man
uiacturc? 1t Is really an important question,
upon which follows the inquiry as to what we
are to do for building material when this mag
nihCcnt wOOd-pinc--is exhausted. One an.
thority after another has entered formally upon
its solution, with satisfactory results in local
instances, but very vague ones us TO the field
at large At the rate we are cutting it today,
from thirty 10 fifty years seem TO be agreed up.
on as ab,ut the limit. Twenty years ago there
was apparently no limit, for the consumption
was not only less, but the means for its manu-.
iacturc were primitive, and accomplished much
smaller results than now. 1t seems as if il
were impossible to further improve the ma
Chinciy of sawmllls; but the near future may,
for all that, see saving machinery in compari-
son to which that of the present Will he con
tcmptiblc, So, although twenty years ago
there was no iOrcsccing the end Of the timber,
now, with the modern mills and myriads OF
them, we are beginning to calculate with dire
certainty as to the time when the Wooden
Age" will be Il thing of the past
Equally suggestive, and following close up
on tins wood conundrum, comes an enthusiast
tic talk of Col. Waring about The Thorough
Bred Horse. The Colonel values the horses
speed, however, mainlyn connection with the
chase, and is decidedly down on the modern
'hoss-trot," saying:
Whatever the effect or influence of the turf
may have been upon the character Of those
who enjoy It's performance, one good result
must follow OF necessity contempt for the
"trotting match" of the day. These matches
bring together such an inferior class of horses.
and, as II rule, such an inferior public, that no
one who knows the higher development of the
animal required for the turf, and the better av-
crage class ofspcctators which it calls together,
can retain n very active interest in tests where
the performance is SIMPLY 10 see how fast II
horse can travel at less than his fastest gait To
me- there would he the same excitement and
interest in II walking race AS in trotting race :;
if we 90 TO the track TO see how fast n horse
can go over the ground we should by all means
rs all kinds Of blood may aspire to the honors
of the lrottlng course, while only the best blood
has the least chance on the turf we must cX-
pect to finland we invariably do tind-purc
breeding in the one and mongrel breeding in
the other.
Other illustrated papers treat on the Amcri,
can Oyster Culture; a splendid travel paper,
From the Atlantic to the Andes; "a curious pa
per by Mrs. licrricl on the Ants and another
by Lieut.. Sturdy on Mars and his Moons In
the serials, Mrs, Traflons hero comes nearer
His Inheritance, and Mr.. EggIcson's Indian
story presents new phases of lie in the Peck
ct Richard H. Soddard has a very interest.
ing study of Keats, and ChaS. H. TruaX dis.
courses on the law of SANDER There are sew
cral very readable stories and some fine orgi.
mails poems; and in his special department DR..
Holland discOurscs of Protection, Civil Ser
vice Reform, ,Sc In the editorial and other de.
partmcnts there is the usual piquant variety.