, 1880-11-20

doubt whether there wotlld bo any serious
opposition In My quarter.
DESTRUCTION OF OUR FORESTS.
4 writer in recent number of the Ia ptfat
| Rcutc,u cnlls attention to tho raptd ttestruc-
| tt0n Of American forests, and to tho nccessl-
ty for some Legislation to arrest 1t before 1t
Is too 1ato- II Is undoubtedly true that With
| III tho Inst half century our tfnbur-lniuts
have been constantly growing less md less;
and 1t Is tho opinion Ut all who haze given
any attention to the subject that Mt tlla pres-
e,t rate Of destruction, tic resources Of our
forests will be destroyed buforc ninny yeats.
II Is n fact to-day that only four Of the twen-
ty.six States cast Of tho Iloeky Mountains
| can furnish supplies beyond whnt Is needed
! for themselves.
The figures quoted BY Mr. Thompson. tic
| writer Of tho article referred to, arc full Of
Significance, md apparently trustworthy.
VT can only sim them up III a very general
way. The four great timber Stntcs nrc Maine,
Michigan, Wisconsin. md Minnesota. Or
these tho first IL now nearly stripped OF llcr
valuable timber, t1ltl tho lumbcrl,ter nrc COM
PEELED to cut tic young trees Which should
form tile seed for future growth. III Ohio,
between the years 1883 and 1870 tierc were
cleared over 4,a00,000 acres-eounl to one
sixth tie enttrp arca OF the State. mil
equivalent to the removal of tho timber
from m entire county each year Be.
tween 1870 md 1878 over 4,5oo,O0o
acres of ttmbcred land Ind been cleared,
The demand for white ptnc upon tho north
ern sections of Michigan and Wisconsin has
bccn 80 great that 1t Is not believed that the
supply cnn inst lougcr than six or seven
years. All tho tiu,bpr lantls near tho lending
t streams llnye long since been cleared. As to
Canada: "A gentleman who hns trnyctcu
over tho territory SAYS there Is not from tho
t,royfnce of Ntnnltnha tn thu Gulf nf ST,
Lawrence enough spruce, pinc, hcmlnck,
ash, oak, elm. and other commercial wou.s
10 supply tho Whole consumption Of, the
United Statcs for three years"
The value of tho annual cutting from tho
American forests Is near 81, 900, 600, 200, which
is consumed In Thousand different ways.
Over lo0, 600 600 cords are used for fuel. In
1871 len thousand ncres wcre stripped to
supply Chicago alore, 70 supny the dc-
ma,Hls af tho railroads in tina State of
New York 10000 ncrcs OF wool
land llayo beel, cleared In single
yenr. Then tho annual losses by
forest fires are something enormous, Tile
loss from the fires Of 187l-wl,tcl swc1,t over
Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Yorh-js cs-
tinlntet Mt over S.l5o0O, 600, In 1914, and
again IN 1870, Pennsylvania suffered terribly
from theso forest fires, which in 1871 de-
stroycd timber In yalue beyond con,putation
| In New lIa1unshlrc. Vermont, sfassnct,,,-
setts, Wisconsin, and Now Jersey. In 1878
tho woods on Lake Supcrfor wero ntire a1-
most continuously fur 1(D niles, These tlg-
ures Elyc n gc,,cru! itlra uI tlla lnporthnce of
Il proper caro- beng taken Of our forest lands
mud OF tho Immense annual demand uuon
them,
There aro two methods of rcmedy,np tl,e
eyi1.-for II IL nm ovl, fn ,uoro woys t,on onc
srha hrotfI, of communities Inn nrosncr;,v ~
largo tracts of lnnd. thu fertility of ina so,I
eycn lin sunnlv of vntor mil vntrr,no,vor
nil tbnsc nro lorcc,v ,1eroutfn,t ,,no,,
tho nctuo, condtt1or nj o,r t,u,,,or-,n,,,y
trhn t1rst mrthnd Is n nrnvont,o,, ~
wnst. hv proucr n.etrietiv, nona,,r,,s mn,
thc sccn,,, il Incrnn scd t,,voionn,o,,t ma ,,r,s
durtlnu hv t,,o mofntero,,ro ~ sn,,onls ~
l fnrustrv or nrhoricu1tt,rr VIVA, ro.,ric,,,o
lnrlslutIos, Ia n.casaory or Inst ,.c ,1o ,,,t
nrrnoso r. t,tsc,,ss ot t,r.so,,t l,...,,.,,,. ~"
i.nns NJ, not,ona IN s,rast cu1tmro I,a1.' "s hos
a svstou, ~ ~ !" forost lave ;, .,..r,n ' ,,"s
oaontaI n svs,n,n ~ toros.r,. ,T,o E.,,'a, '.'S'
fnras,s ro ,,n,lar tho mr., NJ tno MT,,t..r,. ~
EYmnnca ,rho r,r.ono -. c,n,,-ar,"ns ~ ~
n1""tiur tto"s Graat ,,r1ta;'' "u n"a ',io,,ta1 I
,nnnSa'ds " ooraa .v,ti, % nnns "s W"us," su ..rn
noscs to rsforost @ Hans ,, soo,ors ~ na v
noun,rr sa,,,,ou Inc sn,a~o, % 1a"a " r.m",ot' ,,o"