The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1882-08-09
EorestrE Statistics.

In some cantons of Switzerland there
is law fOrbidding the destruction OF
tre1 without planting another to take Its
place This law Is an OutgrOwth Of
ucrr s=ity. Ii has been scientifically
demonstrated that the increase in violent
storms, foundations, and landslides In
Svi. zerland, scattering death and de-
stTUc.inn on all sides, Is due to deforest-
iur the mountains.
Gradually the timber has disappeared
uut- little remains, except on the high
slopes II the mountains, and that little
Is 81 inferior size and quality. Unless
the process Is arrested, the mountains OF
Switzerland will present as bald an APP
rearaAce as those Alps which divide
france from Italy; and nothing more
drsolate and dreary outside the steppes
II Asia, or the desert of Africa, presents
Itself TO tho eve Of the traveller.
Switzerland, compared with the area
Of the United States, Is but speck, but
IL We have more acreage and wider
stretches Of timbered lands, We are also
consuming them more rapidly.
A Elauco at the series Of forestry bulle-
tins issued by the Census Bureau is sufh-
Client ID alarm one for the future timber
supplies Of the United States The
maps show the original extent Of the
f0r,st lands and the ares de-
nuGed by the remorseless Ak of
the lumbermhn. Take Michigan, the
cr5at pine State Of the Northwest Moro
than thres-fourths Of the land, including
the upper peninsula, has been stripped
CF It's timber. A few statistics will show
that the amount OF white pine remaining
IN the Saginaw and its tributaries, and
in the basins Of streams flowing into
Lakes Huron and Michigan, is estimated
az 29, OO0. 600, 900 feet, board measure.
In the single year ending with May,
1880, 4,C5S, ia, 900 feet were cut AT
this rate the supply will be exhausted in
less than eight years. OF the same tim
Ter ca the peninsula there were 6, 600, :
10000 remaining, in round numbers,
and Of this 32s, rs, 900 feet cut In one
wear. From Menominee and Delta
counties the merchaEtable pine, says the
Bulletin, has been almost entirely re-
moved. The destruction Of the hard
woods has been on the same exhaustive
scale.
The maps show that along every nAvi-
gable stream, and on the rivers of the
lakes, the timber has all been cut away,
and each year the lumbermen have TO
60 back further into the interior for their
supplies. and the cost Is increased by
che greater difficulty In getting the tim
Der 10 market.
Wisconsin has only C, 100, OOO, 900 feet
remaining Of white pine. In the census
year $40. 997, 600 feet were cut. How
long before Wisconsin will cease 10
furnish supply of this valuable timber :
She has sun 3, $40, 900 acres Of hard
4 al. - -
hardy less than in the pine lands.
Minnesota still has II, 200, 600, 900 feet
of pine, and some 6, 775, 600, 600 of mixed
pine and hard wood to boast Of, but the
cut during the census year was lis, IT,
OO1fset. and each year as the supplies
in Wisconsin and Michigan dwindle the
demand upon Minnesota's resources will
increase.
In short, unless something is done to
encourage the replanting of forests Of
pine and hard wood it will not be twenty
wears before there will be a timber
famine In the land, with prices SO ex-
trayGgaut as to put an end 10 building In
wood and TO the use Of wood as fuel.
We need not dwell on the effect of de-
forestry on climate and temperature.
This has been repeatedly done in these
columns n is the universal testimony
Of mankind that il results in dtmiaution
of rainflll, and the dwindling away Of
creeks and naEigable streams, and IN in
crease in sudden and devastating storms
and violent hurricanes. We have the
history Of the old world before MS, and
If We do not profit by the warning ex-
ample we deserve 10 be punished for
such crime against nature.-CiHcfnnah
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