The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-11-13
The Preservation of Timber.

The United States, for its area, is proba.
| bly, the best wooded country in the world
| Still, an examination OF the maps in Pro-
| fessor Walkers statistical atlas to accom-
| pany the last census will convince every
| one that in more than one-haf of the en-.
! tire &C untry the woodland does not exceed
! an average of sixty acres to the square
mile. Experience has taught even our
wasteful 'um bermen and timber getters
| that our woodland is far from being mex
| haustible, and the practice current forty
| years ago of clearing up wooded tracts by
| 'deadening" the timber and burning il
| when seasoned for potash has pretty much
| been abandoned. In the treeless rolling
| prairies west OF Missouri the practice now
| Is for State, county and local authorities
| to give every encouragement to tree plant
| ing, and, under the modified homestead law
| in some sections Government land NAV be
taken up upon the simple condition Of
planting forest trees on certain proper
ton OF it. Nevertheless, these are only
partial provisions against A continually
increasing diininution of our timber areas
and our hard woods, as well as our confer
Gus forests, which are being cut down much
more rapidly than they can be made to grow
up again. The statistics ofthe consumption
and waste of timber in the United States
present a startling aggregate. Our fences
alone, according to Mr.. Dodge, late statis-
tican o! the Agricultural Bureau. have
cost our people $l,700000,O00 nearly halfof
which consists in value of material. and the
annual cost of repairs is estimated al $l9S-
$4,000, toward which Marylan alone con
tributes $2000,000 aud New York $4,000
900. An iron furnace that burns charcoal.
1t in full blast, will consume all the wood
around it for three miles. Our railroad
fences have cost 81 100000. Our telegraph
lines have consumed 100000 trees, and
need 250,0O0 for their annual increase and
repair. Our friction matches alone demand
230, 900 feet of pine lumber annually and
our shoe peg makers use up million dol
lars worth of white birch every year 1t
needs the wood upon 10000 acres to supply
the annual demand of our railroads for ties
1t is estimated by Hon. George F. March
and other competent and careful observers
that at the lumbermau's estimate of 1888 900
feet of lumber to each 40 acres our total
consumption of timber for ali purposes
would demand the clearing of twelve mil.
lion acres of woodland every year.
This is area equal TO that OF Vermont
and New Ham pshlre combined ANYTHING
that will tend to check this enormous de-
struction of woodland must be welcomed
on all hands as a great national boon
The maps referred tn in General Walkers
atlas show very strikingiy that our treeless
waste corresponds almost line for line with
the sections where the rainfaG is totally alb
sent or very deficient. Forests. whether
they promote the aggregate rainfall or not.
certainly husband the waters OF the streams
which bind upon them, modify climate
benehclally. protect lands from winds. in
crease the grass crops. and add to the fertii- |
Ity OF soils. Hence the importance of every
measure or improvement which tends to !
check the destruction of timber. Good for
estry laws mot "stumpage" regulations like |
those recently put forth by Secretary |
SchurZl and laws for the encoura cement |
of planting in treeless areas will ALWAYS be |
We must of course do NOTHING |
TO check or obsrruet the vast and varied in,
dustTies which find SEQ pe in the preparation |
transportation aud manufacture of our diff
ferent hard and soft woods. but il il perteet- /
~ right TO promote experiments looking 10 /
the preservation of timber in use Tins
take the case of railroad ties, which survive I
only seven years on the average. ANY pro-
cess by which the life in use OF railroad |
lie or fence post, or sill oF telegram
post. or wharf pile or any other niece OF
tim Der that is brought in imm ediatP contact |
with the earth or the water NAV be douhIed
Dr. extended materially. wiz Be the greatest
possible relief u our overtaxed Woodlands
A great many experiments have been made
and are still making by Governments and
private persons also To fl nd out how timbers |
nay be prevented from decay and protected
rom the ravages OF meets but no che4p
Universal medium to effect this has vet be.-n
ound. In the case of the teredo and ifs
'avages some careful experiments made At
Amsterdam and elsewhere in Holland seem
o have proved that creosote Is a nearly ner-
ect preventive But no practicable, cheaD !
means are yet known by which a chesrnut
,osts fer instance, which rots of in fiff~en E,
ears. may be kept sound for thirty .--BaItI-
nore san. ,