The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-05-01
FORESTRY.
rInnber-Ravagss in Ohio anu -a 1870 .

TIsaber-Ravsgss in Ohio 80
Prom the Cincinnati Comm ,ooss-
The passage in Gov. Bishop os
age that ought to arrest the attention
the Legislature and the people of Ohio
as of the gravest importance is that
which relates to forestry. According to
the statistics of 1870 there were 9,T49,-
333 acres of timbered land in this State
! In 1877 there were but 5, 1880 acres.
| IF these figures are correct they show
| the destruction of over 100000 acres
/ of timbered land in Ohio in seven
years, or nearly one-haH of the entire
| acreage Of 1870.
| These figures are so appalling that one
| is inclined to doubt their accuracy. 1t
seems incredible that One-half the tim
| Der area of Ohio should have been
swept away in so brief period. 1t is
| not surprising that the Governor should
add, that "the day is not far distant,
when, if the present annual destruction
| is continued, the beautiful and valuable
forests of our State viii disappear"
The indifference of our people to for
estry is, in the eyes Of every Intelligent
European, simply amazing. How our
| people can stand by, either idly looking
| on, or actively assisting in the destruc-
ton of forests-the production OF when
| has been the labor of centTrles-ls
wholly inexplicable to them. Ihey
know what it is to suffer from the
dearth of land; what it Is TO pay dearly
/ for fuel, and for the timber essential IN
the construction of buildings where the
use of wood becomes a question OF
| economy. They also know-these OF
| them, at least, who have been IN SPAN
Southern France and Italy, TO say MOTH
| A nriaT1k-What de-
mutation of timbered land means, IN
the increased scarcity of rainfall, recur-
ring and long-continued drought, barren
lands, disappearance of springs and
streams, and increase in the area OF
sandy and unproductive tracts. The
wrinkIed and sun-baked slopes OF the
Pyrenees and Pennine Alps, the mo-
raines of ancient glaciers, which were
once the fertile sources of perennial
streams that irrigated and fertlhzed the
plains, tell their own story to every in
teIigent traveller. The Roman con-
quest of Palestine, and the downfall OF
Jerusalem, were attended by destruc-
ton of the groves and forests that leave
Judea to-day a comparatively barren
land, and in melancholy contrast with
the fruitful country which the spies OF
Joshua reported on their return to the
east bank of the Jordan.
We are pursuing the same unpardon-
ably foolish course in the United States,
If we except the far West, where the
want of timber has forced upon settlers
the importance of planting and protect
ing fores5s. In all the timber States
the ak and saw are necessarily at work,
; and the Government domain itself, IN
spite of the energetic efforts Of Secre-
tary Schurz, is being stripped of that
which makes the lands most valuable.
The destruction in Ohio is not in excess
of the criminal folly Ia other States +;
and in very few years, and when too
late, there viii be universal lament
that the forests are no more.
It was not till the game had pretty
much disappeared from the fields and
woods, and the fish from the streams, so
that what was once common became an
expensive luxury, that a serious effort
was made to preserve the wild animals
and birds from extinction, and to re-
stock the creeks and rivers with an arti-
Gle of food that ought to be the cheap
: | est. as it is the most wholesome, In the
| market We are indebted largely to the
Culver Club, of this city, for the laws
protecting game and fish, and hope 1t
l NAV continue in well-doing; but 1T is
really more important that our forests
be protected than the game to be fOund
in them. The prodigious waste OF tim
| Der in the maintaining hideous post
and-rail fences around farms and in the
! division of fields, must be stopped. Ii
Will presently stop itself, after the mis-
: chief is done and the timber exhausted.
We need laws regulating forestry, en-
couraging the planting of timber trees,
and inspectors of forests, or officers
whose duty it shall be to survey the for
est-lands in each county, find out their
extent and present condition, and give
instruction to the people, not only how
any what to plant, but how to preserve
and what TO destroy. The people
should be made alive to the fact that,
unless something is done TO arrest the
destruction of the forests in Ohio, there
will not be enough good timber-land in
, the State by the end of the century to
keep half-a-dozen enterprising saw
mills in motion.