The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-12-01

The Insane Propensity for Clearing Land
Pennsylvania may now be counted
among the Atlantic States that is practi
cally denuded of its most valuable timber
There are yet ID some parts OF the state,
where water transportation is impossible
ahd where railroads haveAot penetrated,
few thousands of acres of pine trees
that have been protected from rayage by
their remote situations, but these locali-
ties are few and far between. The best
timber has been either cut down for man
utacture or ruthlessly destroyed in the
process Of land clearing. III few years
Pennsylvania will be among the States
that will be obliged to import a part OF
its yearly supply of lumber for use in
building and manufacturing arts. The
same reckless waste and destruction that
has stripped the Eastern and Middle
States, is going on in the timbered regions
of the West and South, without any at
tempt at reproduction. 1t is not only the
supply of pine and hemlock that is near
ing exhaustion. Lettel's Mechanical News,
in an article Of warning, declares that it
does not add to the cheertulneSs of the
situation to know that in the matter of
our resources of oak and walnut lumber
We are no better off. Both these woods.
but especially the former, are of such
vast utility IN our manufacturing indus
tries that they have justly been consider
ed Indispensable, and no theory has ever
been formed, so far as we are aware. of
the means by which their losses could be
made good But it is daily becoming
more apparent that the problem will at
no remote period imperatively demand
solution, and that one or two alternatives
may be choseu-either the production of
these varieties Of timber must be stimu-
lated, or substitutes must be found which
Will answer in their place.
50 far as oak is concerned, the case is
not yet so desperate but that economy
in its use, and above all, an immediate
check to its needless destruction, may be
a sufficient remedy, at least, for the needs
OF the present generation The insane
propensity for clearing land, whether it
is useful for agriculture or not, and
whether the timber is to be turned to any
account or not, ought to be restrained by
penal statute. 1t is carried in some in
stances to such an. extent that nothing
short of deliberate purpose to impoyer
lsh the country, t. bring droughts and
hurricanes, to SOW the wind and reap
the WhirlWind," can explain the conduct
Of the landowners. Individual freedom
is SO much priced by our people that re-
Strainin5 law on this subject would prob
ably be difficult of enforcement; but
agricultural societies, oranges, farmers
clubs, and public journals of whatever
class can do very much in this behalf by
disseminating the facts, and bestowing
wholesome advice OH this vitality impor-
tant subject.
The market for walnut lumber has al
ready been seriously affected by the APP
preaching scarcity. A "corner" has been
even attempted by a few particularly
shrewd dealers, and manufacturers of
furniture are considering what course
they shall adopt when the time comes in
which they can no longer, even at a
heavy advance, obtain this much desired
material. Nothing else is so well adapt
ed to the purpose for which it is used
and even of the unsatisfactory substitutes
proposed the supply is not to be depend
ed on.
The true remedy after all is to make
good the deficiency, not by seeking poor
and unsatisfactory substitutes, but by
| producing as fast as we consume. Groves
Of walnut trees should be planted by
thousands of acres in every part of the
country where they have anatural home.
| The experiment has been tried with per
| feet success in the South, in the West,
and in the North west. The great diff
| Guilty is that term ofyears- say from tif-
teen to twenty-must elapse between the
| investment and the return and however
sure the latter may be, it requires to be
waited for, which is the one thing Of which
| the average American citizen is not capa-
| Bile We have not much faith, as a rule
in any good to be accomplished by in
| reference on the part of Government
but if the Legislature of every State
were to give a bounty of one dollar fol
every tree planted we are confident thai
surprising and beneficial results would il
due time be realized. A dollar in the
hand such is the charm of certainty anC
the bliss of actual possession-woald g
further than the prospect of fifty in th'
tree. Philadelphia Paper.
1t is little less than strange that in th(
recent Industrial Convention at Chicago
there were only two delegates from al
New England. Those two were the re
representatives. Of the Bath Board of Trade
DR.. A. j. Fuller and Hon. VIM. Rogers
The Chicago Times says: =
DR.. Fuller, president of the Bath Boar(
Of Trade, and representing the larges
wooden ship-b building interest in the
United States, said the convention SHOULD
represent, as nearly as may be, the who'll
of the industrial interests demand
ing protection. This particular inter
asked the same ratio of protection az
other interests-no more nor no less II
was not true, as has been claimed, tina
the day of wooden ships had past Thu
iron and wooden ships built in this coun-
try are the best in the world. Establish
free trade, said the speaker, and you will
break down commerce. He wanted to SCI
labor protected. In the Bath shipyards
over SOC, 600, O0Ohad been expended upol
the manufacture of wooden SHIPS Wood
en- ships will be in demand SO long al
they can be built cheaper than iron ships
The interest which he represented didn'
want to see American commerce depress
| cd As tho Apoorioon onnr,oroo TO do