The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-03-25
SELE " LITER iTI RE.
WHAT WE OWE TO THE TREES.

From I'orpcr'. Magazine.
! The trees are man ) best friends: but
nan has treated them Il his worst en-"
lics. The history Of or race may t.
aid to be the history of warfare upon tn
! zee world. Eut while man has seem"
/ % be the victor. his victories have brntl.,n
! lpon him inevitable disasters.
/ In the more civilized periods and plat',
| he poetic sentiment has found Swe, CON
,aniunship IN the trees. aud peoplea til
| .rovcs with dryadsand hamadryadS. Will
r.ste and refinement have planted thcu
| .ear the household dwelling place. ar,'.
! rund pleasure in their beauty and Shad,'
| !he General feeling and course ri act
',,wevcr. have been in al opposite dlrec
| ion The trees have not only been II.
| lrded by man;.> his a"tnl plumber. hu
| :. has even seemed to tind a pnsltiN,
| lct>urc i'll their destruction. he hi.
attached IL" valae i" them, except fo.
| he satisfaction nf his physical wants. /
urnish him fuel and shelter and the m:s
! crlal Of the industrial arts. and Ill salts
wing these wants ~ they lave arisen Ii,
| las been reckless OF the future. Til,
| opply has seemed IA b" abundant. an'
| .c future HIS brcu lief; To- take Gaze
| fs~If.
IN our OWL cnuntrE we have gone l.
hitting. and burning mare than we cnul'
ut acting for the most put a~ Ihnu,
II the while in Il frt,,c or a fight uuti
.nw at length. alter Il century or two "
Ills sort OF work. We are waking up I,
he facts that our orce buund!eSS wood
re disappearing, ami that We are likeiH
suffer no little loss thereby. But it /,
My the few who seem nnw to have All
-irIuatc sense OF our condition as cilec;
i bv the threatened loss of the trees
N 4 recent publication, issued by au-
hprity OF on" of our Western States l",
Iae express purpose of attracting settler
| rom European countries. the Stati til
ii its great lumber production are eiab"
| ,telv set forth. accompanied hy the assn =
tnce that the present cnorm MS ton>nmG
| ION of trees for this purpose may he c."
| inued ten or iitecn Years inH@rr hefnr
| the forests will be destroyed. Tue coo.
| lnconcern in regard to the future shows;
- this is very notice iblG. = After IL,
| he duluge. \ spending ieehuS.
| 5hough working on Il nuah smaller scale.
| seen in an advertisement. and of IA cia>>
| ,iten appearing in our Older States.
| = Brace up, young man. You have 1--we"
N Your parents l"@g enough. Buy thi.
arm, cut OIL the wood. haul it IL market
ret your mo /, Y tor it. md av for the
| firm. The owuer estimates that Their
| will be 800 cords OF market wood. And
50, all over the country. on the large
scale and on the small. til" axe is laid al
! the roots of the trees, and our forests ale
| disappearing. 1t is estimated that 5 COO,
| 100 acres of forest lard are cleared every
ear. and that in the ten Years previous
| % 1876, II oGD. 600 acres were burned
over simply to clear the land.
| So rapid was the destruction of our for
.Sts, even in the carly days of our his
.,,ry. that in one place and another alarm
| vas felt and measures We're taken for
their preservation.
In the town of Hampton, New IIamp
| SIRE. for Instance. we find. as early A.
| 30 this record: 4" Wo III. wards chosen
and no man To fell wood (exccpt OH iIs
| ,wn lot) without assignment of them or
lwo of them" Other regulations werr
| ,lSn made for cutting and using wood.
! md here it may Gr remarked that tins
word root Ir1rd-th" warden or guard u,
| he wo"d-fr>'n which cutncS oar com
non surname Woodward. speaks en-.
| .'hatically of the i'nprrtluce which thr
trly settlers had been accustomed t.
zee attached to the forests in the mother
.,untry. and which prep .red them t.
xeiciSc some care in the protection "t
nose they found here. In the same town
II Hampton. in 1919 there WAS "com
iaint Of great abuse in spelling the
owns timber the wood wards pow.
.aving ceased a few wears before. So il
he town of Yarmouth. in 1898. ii WAS
'"rbidden to cnt timber to sell. Dux
pury also. at an early day, made an or
Ter against carrying timber away from
the town. Saws u writer in the Norh
Jl,n,n ~,
alarm in Plymouth Colony on account al
carcitt of Sumc kinds of .imbcr thar
sithin half a century after the innlln.
certain kinds OF iumb"r were not allnwrd
% be exported except c"rditiona|ly.
Is early as 1853 action was taken ais, in
| 5rookline for the purpose of preserving
he timber in that region. But in gen
"ral the depredation> upon the forests
| nave gone on without restraint. ami the
wonder is not so much that our lumhct
supplies are now seen to be diminishing
81 fast as that we have not been cng'i-
Eant of the fact !ou@ ago, on that WI
| AVE now any IiH,her to care for.
| BUT, after all, we ar, only following in
| his respect the course OF nations which
| have gone before Us. the nations of
| Europe and Asia have been as reckless
| in their destruction of the forests as we
| have been, and by that reGklcssuess have
thought upon themselves unreasonable
evils, and upon the land itself barren
| ness and dvSolation. The face of the earth
in many instances has been changed. rs
| the result of the destruction uf the for
,.stS, from It condition of fertility ana
| abundance to that of II desert. Such are
| If the air, tn temperature, to moisture.
and to the soil itself. that without them
the earth refuses to be lit place for the
inhabitancy OF man.
Never was any region of the earth bet
ter fitted by climate, soil. and natural
adjustments OF land and water to each
est state of civilization. and in the rn>SeS-
sion of the greatest power. intelligence.
and happiness-in short with the pro
mise of the greatest and mn~t prrma
nent prosperity-than that which bnr'irr>
the Mediterranean. and which stretches
through Europe from the Straits OF Iii
| braltar on the west to ancient Phn:iicia
On the east. and back through Africa to
fhe Atlantic. Here. only little way
| fr,,,,, ~, ,.i.,.iIr ni an, N ",.SInrn