Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-03-21
Forests.

l observe with pleasure that there is
much said and written abont improving
and Identifying our woodlands. 1t is to
be hoped that our forest commissioners
will bring forward some feasible plan that
will be generally adopted. 1t appears to
me that the plan that has been talked so
loudly in congress and sanctioned by 30
many journals in our state would be poor
policy for Vermont. That is, to abolish
the duties on Canadian lumber and break
down one of Vermont's best industries
that our forests might be preserved.
However plausible such a plan may
appear in theory it will not hold good in
practice. We turn our attention TO the
saving of wood and timber on account Of
its market value. Formally when lumber
was low only the butt log of the spruce
was sawed for clapboards and the rest of
the tree was left TO rot on the mountain
because it did not pay to get it sawed.
Now the price Of lumber saves the whole
tree. Formerly our woods were all run
over to get little spruces for hop poles.
To-day man would be considered crazy
to sell a straight tree for that purpose.
When there WIS no value in hardwood
lumber farmers used straight growing
naples birch and beech trees for fire wood
and left the crooked ones that were hard to
work up to die on the stump or rot on the
ground. Now every old stub and log is
used for wood because the good sound
trees are worth ten dollars thousand in
the log. When lumber was low there
was no care used in cutting wood and
timber to save the growing trees. Being
unable to attend to it myself this winter
| hired an experienced chopper because
| wanted to spare the young trees, one old
tree left to be swept down by the fury of
the winds will often destroy a dozen
saplings. The truth is our woodlands
need to be cared for as much as any part
of the farm. The old decaying trees
should be removed TO give a chance for
the young trees to grow. The underbrush
should be removed as we'll as everything
else that obstructs the growth of promising
trees. Common sense teaches that nothing
will stimulate the farmer to care for his
forests like enhancing the value of all
kinds of wood and lumber.
1t is question whether there has been
on the whole great destruction of the
forests of Vermont, during the last five or
ten years. In some localities there has
been an indiscriminate slaughter of all
growing trees, while in others beautiful
groves of sugar naples have grown up
and all woodlands have shared in the
general improvement of our farms. Large
tracts that have been chopped over on the
line of railroads are fast growing up to
dense forests, old pastures have been
abandoned and will soon be covered with
trees. One lumberman told me that he |
was cutting clapboard logs from tract
which he cut over 10 years ago, and that
he was getting more logs than he did the !
first crop. What is wanted Is to agitate
this subject and assure the owners of |
forests that in all coming time there will
be, good demand for lumber and we
need not be alarmed about the forests of
Vermont. But to abolish the duties on
lumber and lay one of our best industries
open to competition with the vast Cana.
dian forests and thereby stop all trade in
lumber as the only means of Swing the
woodlands. is too absurd to talk about.
One journal stated that it was the specua.
tors in lumber who we're the only ones
which is not correct. Since the
price of lumber has advanced, clapboard
mills have been built on all our streams.
the old saw mills have been furnished
with circular saws, and almost every
farmer lumbers more or less through the
winter, which furnishes work for The
teams which he is obliged to keep, and
enables him 10 retain the help that he
employs in the summer, through the
winter months, and when spring comes
and the hooks are balanced he will find
that the profits are the best OF the whole
year, and if he has managed judiciously
his woodlands will not be ruined either.
Employment has been given to wood
choppers at 81 90 to 81 SO per day. The
rade in hemlock bark alone has amounted
to large sum. E.w.B.
Moretown, March 10.