The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-12-13
FORESTRY AGITATION.

The president,in his address to Con-
gresS devotes share of attention to
forestry. 1t is question which few
regard in the light of its real impor-
tance, and anything that may be said
to create interest in it may be regard
ed IN the light of a public beDefac-
ton. In Europe The lessons which
teach the value Of Forests have long
ago been learned. and governments
and individuals have entered large
~ into the encouragement and
cultivation of native forest
trees. Not long ago we told of wise
policy now being inaugurated by the
Mexican government-the planting of
millions OF trees in the valley of Mex
leo. If the experiment be satisfactory,
and this it will be, cont acts will no
doubt be let for planting trees in all
parts of therepuplic. In this, Mexico
takes the lead of Texas, and, in fact,
of nearly every state of our union.
Nature provided the United
States with the finest forests in the
world, but a thoughtless and destruc-
tive American tendency has unneces-
sarily laid waste many of the finest
forests on the continent. According
to the last report of the agricultural
bureau, Michigan and Minnesota in
ten years, and Wisconsin in twenty
years will be stripped of their great
pine forests at the present rate of de-
struction. By the same official au-
thority it is calculated that in seven
years Maine will cease to be the Pine
Tree State with the disappearance of
her forests. In the Northwest the
stripping of the woods of their glories
has so far progressed that the lumber
men find no longer profitable employ
ment, and are turning their attention
to the South. The virgin forests of
Arkansas have attracted many lum-
bermen of the Northwest, and the
number of saw-mills IN that state has
increased fourfold since 1880, while
the number of trees annually cut
down and sent to market is twenty
times as great as seven years ago. 1t
is estimated, nevertheless, by the COM
missioner of agriculture that the lum-
Der supply in Arkansas will last 300
years. In Mississippi it is estimated
by the commissioner that the supply
will last 100 years; in Georgia, eighty,
and in the Carolinas, fifty years. The
estimate for Texas is not fixed, but
while we have vast lumber section,
the prairie region in the state largely
preponderates, and it may be safely
estimated that Texas will be able to
turn out no more lumber in Eastern
Texas than will be required for the
Improvement of Middle and Western
Texas. While the Northern lumber
men are invading the South they are
not neglecting Texas. Though fifty
four per cent of the soil OF
the South Atlantic and Gull
states is estimated to be in
unbroken forests. railroads are pen
etrating all these lands, and the
never firing axe of the woodman hes.
itateSnot to spare the neblest of the
trees. 1t is not alone the probable
scarcity of timber in the future that
justiiies agitation in favor of protect
ing forests, but that the economies Of
nature may pc more perfectly
maintained. Not only is tn,
equalization of moisture impaired
by the absence of forests, but wheI
storms and attendant copious fall
of rain visit treeless districts, the
earth is found unprovided with Ma
lures absorbents, and hence, in thu
western prairie region, and even il
the east, where the forests have beel
removed, there come these occasional
devastating floods that destroy enough
annually to pay for the planting o
forests in all this vast section
The Mississippi river is the channe
for conveying from great treeles
region its surplus water, which a
certain seasons descend in measnreles
floods. So it is in all the western IT
: gion where forests do not grow. Ur
eaualed distribution of mistureat on
time brings on floods, at anoths
drouth; and these unnatural cond
lions are traciable to the absence {
forests. The sudden aud terribl
flood of the Rhine. last yea
in which so much destruction of lii
and property occurred, was attribute
to the denudation of the soil. whic
could. therefore, make no resistanC
to its devastation. The absence I
trees in western Texas produces Iii
results. Conditions there, howeve
have been changed. Where tr
growth was unknown son
years ago. soils begin
produce tree growth, and it
only necessary for the state Cover
ment to combine with individual e