The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-12-25
American Woods.


In Que great feature of landscape the
States aud the Provinces of North Ameri-
ca differ very much from auy expectation
| had formed That feature is the nature
and disposition Of the woods. They are
not the woods that stand round the STATELY
homes of England neither is there any
hedgerow timber such as, from every ele-
walton in the midland counties, gives TO
the whole country, even to the verge Of
distant horizon, the appearance Of one rich
and continuous forest. Still less are they
woods Of France or Of Germany, where ar.
Horticulture is a regular branch of study,
where the maximum Of produce to the acre
is carefully considered, and where every
scrap, even the "lop and top, is neatly
collected aud piled in "cords." In Amer
lea, with the exception of the trees which
are planted with admirable effect 10 the
streets of cities and towns, there is hardly
any indication Of the cultivation Of trees
being attended to at all. | saw nothing
that could be called fine timber, and no
woods which showed any care in thinning,
with view to the production of such tim
Der in the future. Aud yet the woods Of
North America are very varied 10 form,
and very beautiful in composition, They
are BY no means mere patches of original
forest left in the midst Of ''cleariugs, nor
is the cultivated country generally bare,
with the remains of that Forest standing
10 ragged edges round IT, There are, 10 :
deed, some districts where this is the as.
pect of the land, and very dreary aspect
il is but the general character Of all the
country which has been long settled is very
different. 1t is not land of ebrown
heath, but it is emphatically land of
shaggy wood !" land in which clulnps
and thickets and lines aud irregular mass
es of the most beautiful foliage, vary aud
adorn the surface. This is what had not
expected, and what il delighted me much
To see. The secret Of it lies in one cir
cumstance, which is the secret also Of
much else that is characteristic Of the
American Continent-the eoyer-abundance
of land as compared with the cutivating
aud occupying power Of the settled popu,
lation. 1t is not worth while to cultivate
any land but the best Every acre which
is Of inferior quality, or in an inconvenient
situation, every rocky knoll too hard every
bank and brae too steep to plow, the sides
Of every stream, the banks Of every dell,
and frequent tracts on every hillside, are
left in n state of nature. But throughout
the Eastern States and Provinces, the soil
being full of the seeds of trees, the state
Of nature is n state Of woodeduess. Even
where the whole face Of the country has
been burned by forest fires, and the set
tier has appropriated whatever portion Of
1t was best and most easily worked, the
after growth which has sprcng up is n
beautiful tangle of birch and oak and elm
and maple; and these tangles, wholly un.
cared for, are left to flourish as they may.
To large extent these woods are Of no
value for any economical purpose, except
tirewood and fencing. The fine trees have
disappeared with the original forest, aud
there has been no time, so young are even
the oldest settled countries Of America,
for the new growth to attain any size.
The struggle for existence is allowed to
go on among the contending species, and
it requires long time under such condi.
tions to develop even fair.sized timber. II
astonishes me to see, even in the close
neighborhood of the oldest cities Of New
England, the extent Of land which is aban.
doned to what moy be called "bush. -
Duke Of ArayH Ia Flmser's 4Naga:iae.