Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-28
Saving nnr Forests.

On Tuesday last the American Forestry
Congress met in Cincinnati and is still in
session. AS the name implies, the object
of the body is to devise ways and means
for preserving our American forests, and
preventing the destruction of trees, al
ways so thoughtlessly and ruthlessly
sacrificed to the imaginary demands Of
| progress and civilization.
This is an exceedingly important and
interesting subject, and one which, just
now, commands the attention of the civ
ilized world. AS Baron Won Steuben,
Chief Royal Forester of the German EN-
pire, in letter to this Congress, says:
There can be no doubt that every cOun-
try requires a certain quantity Of well
stocked woods, not only to supply the
demands for building material and fuel,
but more especially to secure suitable
meteorological conditions, preserve the
fertility of the soil, and out of sanitary
/ considerations AID he further says,
"abOve all things it IS essential
to prevent forest destruction where
such would injuriOusly affect
the fertility of the soil. It is i'm
portant to preserve and TO cultivate
iudiciously those forests which stand at
the head waters and on the banks OF the
larger streams, because through their in
discriminate destruction fluctuations in
the stage of water, sand bars. and inuu-
dations of arabic lands are Occasioned,"
So great is the importance attached to
this matter in the German Empire that
large sums are annually set apart for the
purpose Of purchasing such lands as are
unfit for cultivation, so that they may be
utilized in planting trees, and, in this
way, 25.7 per cent. Of the aggregate area
of the whole empire is occupied by
forests.
1t may seem to the superficial thinker
that the subject of forest preservation in
America is one not, at this time at least,
specially worthy of consideration. Our
expanse of country is so vast, and our
forests are, apparently, so limitless, that
the idea of taking steps for their preserva-
ton seems superfuous. Such, however,
is a great mistake. The country is rap
idly, year by year, becoming settled up.
Forest fires, railways, clearing up farms,
and the vast quantity of timber lost
through wanton waste and destruction,
all combined enable close observers of
the matter to. calculate with some
degree of mathematical accuracy the ar
rival of time when, unless the whole
sale destruction of our trees is checked,
there viii be no forests worth speaking
of as such in all the area of the United
States. The prospect is indeed alarming
for a future generation, and the actual
state of affairs is not very agreeable for
the present generation to contemplate.
Every new farm taken up requires a
great quantity of timber for fences, and
every new village another great quantity
for houses; and the cost of these is al
ready far greater than they used to be.
The saw mills that spring up in every
settlement and about every large and
growing town or city, devour millions Of
feet of timber every year to make boards
and shingles, and as these towns are fire.
quently burned down the supply has to be
renewed. The owners of woods, the saw
millers, and the lumbermen may make
fortunes out of their enormous business
and increased profits; but the people
in general, who are all customers of
theirs, directly or indirectly, have in
creased expenses, and at the same time
the sources of the supply of timber are
becoming exhausted.
1t is well said by a writer on the sub
iect ''the waste of forests tends to the
drying up of the springs and the diminu-
ton of water in mill streams and in the
navigable rivers that are fed from them, to
say nothing of the loss of what may be
needed for the irrigation of farms in dry
seasons. Even the great cities are peri
odically in danger of a water famine,
because the rivers that should fill the
reservoirs fail to furnish the quantity
that is needed for sanitary purposes, aud
even for drinking water for men and
animals. II the forests were saved from
fires and wood cutters, the annual fall of
dead leaves which absorb the water from
SHOWS and rains and let it drain gradu-
ally into the springs, would be continued.
As the destruction goes on, there is moth
ing to check the rapid flow of all such
water into the streams and ultimately
into the ocean, and the beneficent purpose
of the power that planned this process of
nature is thus utterly defeated"
The general importance of the preser-
walton of forests may therefore be read
lily realized, and it is a subject in which
the people of Georgia have direct per-
sonal interest. Not only is the demand
for timber for building purposes daily
increasing in our State, but as it becomes
more and more developed by railroads,
our forests are rapidly being thinned out
of oak and pine for cross ties, and even our
swamp lands are called upon to furnish
their supplies of cypress and other woods
for home and foreign demand. Turpen-
tine distilleries. too, which are rapidly
increasing, are fruitful agents for the
rapid destruction of our pine lands, and
in comparatively few years, at present
rate of consumption, these valuable
trees will become things of the past
Our people should think of these
things, and give their serious attention to
the problem of preserving something of
our forests for the benefit of posterity.
The cultivation of certain kinds of use
full trees that grow from twigs or sap
lings with great rapidity should be made
as much a special object with farmers as
are cotton, corn and tobacco, for, in a
few years, a new crop of useful trees
may be as valuable to them and the
country as any other. The Forestry
Congress may result in nothing of value,
but if it makes beginning of grand
system to arrest the progress of destruc-
ton in our old forests and to create new