The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-08-16
IMPORTANCE OF FORESTRY

something IN winch the people Oh
western Texas should take special in
terest. We are building our fences
out of iron, and the earth is ready to
yield vast quantities of coal for the
domestic and business uses of man,
but there is void created in the alb
sence of timber in western Texas,
which cannot be relieved of its detri-
mental influences except by the arti-
fetal production of trees. Within
the last few years a forestry associ-
alton has done much to create intelli-
gible interest in tree production, and
the annual meeting of this body is
every year looked to with more gen.
eral interest. The federal commits
sioner OF agriculture, DR.. George B.
Loring, takes a deep interest
in forestry, and is one of
the most active members of
this association. An annual meeting
has just been held at st. Paul, Mimi,
and IN 1886 we hope to see the annual
congress Of forestrymen assemble at
the capital of Texas. Certainly the
condition and Importance of our state
will induce such a conclusion, when
the congress is held in 1885. Besides
having one of the very finest timber
regions of the United States-a vast
expanse of country, stretching from
the Sabine to the Colorado-in which
grow great variety of timber trees,
in the greatest profusion and of the
finest proportions, We have to the
westward of this region, reaching to
the Rio Grande, an immense area of
territory. of remarkable richness, but
growing, because of some unexplained
natural causes, only the grasses and
an inferior wooded growth, Of but
little advantage to a country's devel-
opment, and of benefit to commerce
only in the most limited degree. In
this region, in fact, there are vast
grassy plains, where but occasional
patches of scrubby mesquite and
wesach are to be found. The natural
tendency, now, however, is to the
growth of timber, and we are satisfied,
were tree-planting and tree culture
resorted to, western Texas could, in Il
generation or two, grow its own tim
Der. These vast plains, where, a few
years ago, there was not vestige of
tree production, are now, in many
places, dotted with mots of scrubby
wooded growth, struggling along into
more perfect development. 1t is
clearly the duty Of the state govern
ment to look into this matter of
forestry, and to encourage, as far
as lies in its power, the growth of
trees in western Texas. Not only is
tree production demanded for the
wants of population, but it is needed
to assist nature in assuring profitable
seasons for agriculture. Moisture is
not promoted on these sun-heated
prairies of the west, and moisture is
all that is needed to make them as
productive, under the arts of agricul-
ture, as any. portion of the globe.
| Hence we would see the foreStrymen
assemble in Texas, to lend their
moral influence to the establishment
of artificial forestry in western Texas.
The object of the association is to lead
to this end. 1t is sought to
impress upon people the Importance,
on many grounds, of planting
tree, OF replacing virgin growth, now
destroyed, as well as of filling up
waste places, where trees never grew.
It is fe;;.z, '::I1LyNAe. persHade ueSple
o. @ apS zone, that being
11A; 1111 which must be done by the
wanton destruction of forests. 1t has
already been felt in the Eastern states
and has created alarm there, but in the
West it is different. People are look
| ing to immediate profit in all they I'M
| dertake, and all are too greedy to eX-
pend time and money on posterity. 1t
is very properly said, that trees will
not be planted by the hundreds and
thousands CT acres, as the welfare of
coming generations demands that they
| should be, unless it can be shown that
| there is money in it. Some farmers
might set out few trees every year, if
the state would pay bounty therefor;
a lew more might plant trees in return
for gifts of land; but these two incen-
tives are not powerful enough to pro-
duce results desired. By consulting
the statistics of forest destruc-
ton it may be seen,
how rapidly the time is coming when
a tree will be worth solid Jumps of
gold. The prairie farmer, meyer see
ing forests, can hardly be taught that
the forests are rapidly disappearing
All he knows about it is that the lum-
Der which he buys gets dearer and
dearer every year. But that knowl-
edge may not lead him to plant seeds
or saplings. On the other hand, the
dweller among mountains and wood
lands sees trees year by year where he
has always seen them, or, il certain
acres are denuded, watches second
growth springing up, so that the need
of timber cultivation does not come
home to him. He does not see, and
therefore, he is not easily pursuaded
that the result of each years opera
tions, taking the country through, is
to make the area of marketable tim
Der materially smaller. Whether these
obstacles will be overcome, so that
before Il timber famine occurs tree
planting will be recognized indus
try. it is impossible to say. The pros
perity of the country imperatively de-
mands that they shall be overcome.
The destruction of forests means
drouths and floods, as- well as scarce
and dsar lumber, so that every citizen
suffers from it. Treeless plains, civ
en- to Texas by nature, should be over
come. The west has been the home
of the redman and of the
buffalo, neither needing timber. Now
the white man, with houses and Guilt
walton, with breeds of domestic ami
mails demanding shelter, appeals for a
new condition, conformable to the
wants of an advancing age. Let US
go to work in Texas to secure them,
and, as an incentive, let us earnestly
invite the presence of DR.. Loring and
his associates, az the capital of Texas
in 1886, to advise with us as to the
best measures to be adopted for pre-
serving our unparalleled forests, as
well as for growing valuable trees on
the late trackless plains of western
Texas.
A PUBLIC OUTRAGE.