The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-02-14

Timber Ravages In Ohio and Elsewhrrs.
Prom the Cincinnati Co,nn,erciaII

Timbsr-R svagss In Ohio and Elsewhere.
From the Cincinnati Commercially
The passage in Gov. Bishops mess
age that ought to arrest the attention O
the Legislature and the people of Ohio
as of the gravest importance is tina
which relates to forestry. According Il
the statistics of 1870 there were 9,749,
333 acres of timbered land in this State
In 1877 there were but 5,l17,3lO acres
If these figures are correct they show
the destruction of over 100000 acre.
of timbered land in Ohio in sever
years, or nearly one-half of the entir,
acreage OF 1870.
There figures are SO appalling that one
is inclined to doubt their accuracy. i
seems incredible that ne-half the tim
Der area of Ohio should have beer
swept away in 40 brief period. 1t i,
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 will disappear"
The indifference of our people to for
estry is, in the eyes of every Intelligent
European, simply amazing. How oul
people can stand by, either idly looking
on, or actively assisting in the destruc
ton of forests-the production of which
has been the labor of centuries-is
wholly inexplicable to them. They
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-those Of
them, at least, who have been in Spain
Southern France and Italy, to say moth
ing of Africa or the Orient-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
wrinkled and sun-baked slopes OF the
Pyrenees and Pennine Alps, the mo-
raipes of ancient gla ,iers, which were
once the fertile sources of perennial
streams that irrigated and fertilized the
plains, tell their own story to every in
telligent 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 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-
o1, &c. xloT ,tol kcSo
if we except the far West, where the
want of timber has forced upon settlers
the Importance of planting and protect
ing forests. 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 will be a universal lament
that the forests are no more.
1t was not till the game had pretty
much disappeared from the fields and
woods, and the fish from the streams, sc
that what was once common became an
expensive luxury, that q 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 il
may continue in well-doing; but it il
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-ra fences around farms and in the
division of fields, must be stopped. il
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 officer,
whose duty it shall be to survey the for
est-lands in each county, find out theil
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