The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-01-13
Our Timber and Fuel Suppiy.
To Mrs Mary Bayard Clarke We are
Indebted for the following. which vii
explain itself =

Jan. 9th.
Dear .S0-When in A,heyllle Ia>t
summer, | had the pleasure Of meeting
Mr.. rhouss Meehaa, Hoaantst Of the
Pennsylvania Board Of Agriculture,
who sas engaged in IN examination of
the forests OF Virginia, North Carolina
aud ~IeoOessee, with = special view t.
the stsdy OF the coming tiuter ques-
tion. thinking the result Of hs Iuyc>-
tisAtlon would be Interesting 10 the far
mers Of our State, begged hiu, 10 ct me-
hear from hun, and he has iu,l seat
ne Two papers which wish you could
publish 10 iul!, one on "forsis ami
forestry" anu the other on hc t.n-
J.r Lias If Hyh aD.atatns.'
AZ they are, however. 100 louy for
this, | cundense souIe ot tue intorlua-
ton contained in the trsI ineul,pncI,
which is . part ot hisiepoItto the Board
of Agriculture. while the oiher !, an
extract from the proceed ~. oil The
Academy Of Natural Scieuee Of Ph,la-
delphia.
He begins bv stating that there is
very much more timber 10 the country
than people generally believe though Al
RIC-Cbt aIoStty III boA WV
nient 10 market at paying prices.
10 Pennsylvania, for instance. nearly
one fourth Of her area is probably uuder
forest, but it is nearly inpo,>ib!e to get
what is needed IL the points required
without = heavy draft on the profits
which insested capital Is expected To
pay.
Unless our wise men look to II. this
will probably soon be the case III North
Carolina. for although Mr.. Mcehan saJ
he found millions OF acres 10 thus Sac
Virginia. and Tennessee, heavi y timber
ed with magnificent trees, most Of these
lands are far from 4 t.mber market. aud
the trees being rapidly destroyed BY the
girdllny process. 80 that waeu the coua-
try is opeoed oy railroads aud river
navigation the same scarcity which n
now alarming Pennsylvania viii pre-
vail here.
lie thinks. general laws giving prem
iums for planting trees, anyhow aud
everywhere, = waste OF public money
the true policy being for large corpora
tons sud public bodies, which are most
likely to need timber IN their operations,
to work out supplies from their own
forethought in forest culture. Thu, the
Girard Trust is already doing near their
mines in Schuykiil county. Pennsylvania
Mr.. Aeehan visited these young forest,
and gives an interesting account Of the
mode Of culture.
It seems almost superhuous to write
Of ~cultivating timber 10 this State,
when We read his account Of the qu,utl-
ty and quality and variety he found in
our mountain ms but this last cold SNAP,
when not . load of 6re wood could for
two days be bought in Neuberu At any
price and the high price We are paying
for it In most Of eur towns, has get
OF US thinking whether forest
culture might not be after all advisable,
for purposes OF fuel, even now, in some
localities.
MIR. Meehan says, oar forest literature
is mainly made up from European sounds
or suggested by European experiences,
and astrees grow much slower in Europe
than they do in America, it would not
take near 80 long to grow timber hero
Is it does there.
In England, be says, oaks are known
10 have lived q thousand years, while
the Eastern Atlantic States it il
whether any timber trees reach
hundred years without signs Of de-
,repitule by which time thay are lar
ger by many hundred cubic fes. Of lun-
Der than they are 10 England at i've
nundred years Of age.
When the white man settled in the
'alley Of the Shenandoah it vas, he be-
ieves, entirely clear Of timber, aud the
immense quantity that now bounds there
all grown up during the past one
n two hundred years. The same Is
probably true Of Pennsylvania. where
Mr., Joseph Leidy reported to the Phil
Academy Of Natural Sciences,
hat he found the bones Of buffalo IN
:aves, az animal which does not exist
n wooded countries. The tradition is
hat the indians used to burn their val
eys every year TO keep down the trees
md preserve food for The buffalo.
N, ,n