The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-03-01
County and tity Official Press.
Thursday, March !. 1877.
THE TIMBER HARVEST &.

A lettrr f,om Calif,,.a -feaks ~
planting cat Eucalyptus res III that
State as 4 matter Of specGis,iou. Il
costs about ten cents per tree 10 set
them out. and ten or fifteen years for
them to grow into a size to be Of an
appreciate commercial value, but thu
local papers claim that their planting
will run up the value of wild lands iii
that State from 81 % To 500 per acre.
The patent fact on the surface Of this
business is that timber is money. The
lnmbsrman's axe. with rapid sweep.
like the sickle bar of a mower is advanc-
ing through the woodlands and leaving
emptiness in place Of the waving har-
vest of forests.
At . recent Congress Of tho American
Forest Council in the Fast, il was shown
that the railroads of the country annu-
ally consume ST., 900, 900 worth Of thu
Der for buildings, repairs, cars, etc, AID
$50. 0O0, 900 worth for fuel. Ia the ten
years between 1850 and 1860, 10000
900 acres of timber were DESTROYED
to make room for agriculture.
These are only u few Of the representa-
tive items Allison, the historian Of
Enrope. in his chapter on America. de-
scribes the progress of civilization in
this country as the march of an invad-
ing army pushing back the line of the
original forest a distant of Il miles
each year.
The total number of men engaged in
Numbering in the Union is about $780,
600. The annual product of sawed
lumber is something over 12.000.0 900 NJ.
feet, aud of shingles oser 5000. 900 NJ
Of this the Washington Territory quota
il ut present rather less than one-for-
ticth.
A number of able papers bearing
upon the influence Of forests upon
climate were read by scientific men whe
had made the subject study for years
Prof. uoash of New York. mentions as
m instance of the delcterious effects of
cutting down these monarchs which
cause currents of air to hold above them
in spoDgc-like mass the passing
clouds until the atmospheric pressure is
sufficient 60 rend them, the remark
able fact that merchant ships one hun
dred years ago sailed east from Blsndens-
burg to the Potomac, whereas. in this
Centennial year. there is not sufficient
water Ut high ii ie, owing to the syste-
matte denudatioa Of the land to float .
canoe. He also cited number Of au-
thorit!ns to prove that streams contain.
ed water longer on their wooden sides
than on the deiorested. the springs
yielding or failing as the trees along
the banks were allowed to grow or were
cut down.
G. X. Lands. the founder Of Vine
land. urged that the trees absorb the
carbonic gas which arises from decay
ing vegetation. which is promotive of
malaria. and give forta life giving oxy-
gen they draw rain from tue clouds
BY their nstura! power Of attraction
when they need moisture. and hold the
vapors that drift over the surface of
tho earth. which becomes while 50 held
. thin veil between the earth and the
higher atmosphere. thus ,otecting man
from sudden atmospheric changes.
II il will pay to plant out the tree
less plains Of California and wait dec
sdes for the trees TO attain any sire and
value. what is the value Of unap-
prrciatcd acres on Puget Sound already
- luxariantly set with timber Of .
growth which centuries would not
make.