Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-08-29
OUR FORESTS.
A strong Argument for their Preserva-
ton.

n strong lOF tnt1G fFeseft6-
ton.
The Bureau of Agriculture has publish
an interesting collection of articles about
the value and management of the Govern
ment timber lands. Naturally enough the
writer's. among whom are +. b. Hough,
n II. Eglcston, f q. Baker and NJ. c.
Read, cover to some extent the same
ground. But the papers prepared by Mr..
Baker and Mr. Read contain information
of immediate practical Importance or rath-
er information which would be important
if it was all likely to influence action.
Mr.. Baker speaks of the Rocky Mountain
forests. Mr. Read of tho.e about the head
waters Of the Mississippi river. The other
essays leads up to these. Thus, Mr. lIOugh
argues that owners of private lands
will not plant trees by concerted and
general action founded upon ideas of Il
public benefit only hence these people
must he persuaded that it will pay to
plant And Mr.. Egleston points ont that
forests have Il perceptible influence on
climate, health, rainfall, the filling of
rivers and agricultural prospects.
All this is generally accepted truth. But
the facts set forth by Mr.. Baker are not
universally known. This writer shows
that the Government timber lands,
amounting to some S500O.WD acres. lie
principally in two great traCts-23,OOO 100
acres largely pine, in Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Arkansas and louisiana and
the greater part of the rest on the east and
west slopes of the Rocky Mountains
and parallel ranges in Washington.
Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho Mon
tana, Wyoming and Colorado, and es-
pecially in the first three and the last. In
these mountains rise the Platte, the Ar
kansas, the Rio Grande, the Missouri and
numherless smaller rivers: and every acre
of the forests which clOthe these noun
tains, and shelter the springs in which
these rivers head, ought not only to be
withdrawn from sale orentry, but protect
ed from thieving individuals and corpora
tiOnS and also from fires. 'The destruc-
ton of these forests, authorized or unau-
thorzed,' it is said, lis an evil for which
there is no possible compensation"
The same line of argument of course APP
plies to the country which holds the
springs OF the Mississippi The MISSISSIPPI
pi Valley has an extreme width of 81 de
gree of longitude and a length of 20 degree
of latitude, embracing onehalf of all the
territory of the United States. According
to Mr.. Reads conception of the problem
"lt in this valley were gathered all the
Caucasian race, there would be a popula-
ton of only about $40 to the square mile
and if all the inhabitants of the earth
were gathered into it, the population
would not crowd it. Its fertility is al
most as uneXampled as its size. Deduct
ing the arid portion Of the West, there is
nowhere else on earth an area of one-half
the size of unbroken land of equal fertil-
lty ana productiveness, or capable of sup
porting SO dense IA population. The ques,,
ton of the future of this great valley is of
so vast Importance that Imagination can
hardly grasp it. Shall the arid climate of
the West creep steadily eastward till its
hot breath parches the slopes of the Allie
ghany mountains, or shall our tilage,
with ever-ncreasing returns, be extended
steadily westward till it reaches tn t. Las
o. the Rocky mountains ~
The answer depends in great measure ON
the preservation or the loss of the peren-
NAL springs and brooks with which tie
upper part of this vast region is now
blessed, but which it will lose if forest de
StructiOn goes ON unchecked. "pract-
cally the whole of this valley" weare told,
lis capable of being put under tilage.
Personal greed is tending to this result,
and very clearly is tending to its dimin-
ished fertility and quite probably to the
complete destruction of its fertility This
happens because the sources of nearly all
the tributaries of the Mississippi are found
in Il series of swamps and lakes, which,
receiving the drainage of ad jacent higher
lands, furnish never failing supply of
water as the commencement of each
stream But the clearing of the higher
land Is causing the surface water to flow
more rapidly into these lakes and SwampS.
and many swamps have been themselves
reclaimed. Springs once abundant have
disappeared. Streams alternately rise over
their banks and run dry. The importance
of putting an end to this course of things
for the good of agriculture must he ap-
parent if it is literally true, as Mr. Read
asserts, that in ii wild area of agricultural
land, when One-fOurth of it is retained in
forests. the residue will, year by year
yield more than the whole would if cleared
and subjected to cultivation. The hasten
ing Of the downward flow, il is believed,
has tended to diminish local evapora-
ton, and the destruction of the forests
local precipitation, And an additional
motive for calling halt in the Telling of
timber about the sources of the MisSiSsip-
pi is suggested almost annually by ire
mcudOus ovcrflows in the low river. THE
natural regulators of the streams, swampS
and porous soil, having been destrOyed,'
says the essayst, whenever there is an
excessive rain it is rapidly carried into the
streams, which, gradually uniting their
waters, often constitute floods in the
larger channels which no human appli-
anCes can control.
TO couuteract these dangerous tendcn-
cies Mr.. Read advocates the enlargement
and preservation of the natural reservoirs
and the construction of artificial lakes at
the heads of the streams large enough to
regulate their flow and, in addition, "in-
-dividual efforts, by warming by appeal, by
disseminating IA love for forest culture,
and just appreciation Of its monetary
value bV fish commissioners eucOurap-