The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-10-28

The time is approaching when the
culture of timber in America will
become an exceedingly profitable
industry, as it has been found in the
Old World There are circumstan-
ces in which natural wealth Of any
kind is neglected because there is no
present necessity for IL. and in the
course Of time, for want of use, and
through this neglect, it is supposed
to be of no value, simply because it
has been neglected. 1t is precisely
the case with regard to the common
timber of America. We have sup
posed that pine is only tit for build
ing and finishing purposes, and all
other timbers. both evergreen and
deciduous, have been neglected for
this reason. Carpenters have scorn-
ed hemlock because its splinters got
into their hands; they have rejected
spruce because when used green it
warps and twists off the roo" TO
use a common saying, and all kinds
of hard wood are considered to be
so wanting in durability as to be
unit for any purpose but tirewood.
But for inside framing and any
place where it is kept dry, hemlock
is more durable and sitter ard
stronger than pine; spruce, when
dried in proper manner, Is equally
durable and is exceedingly elastic;
chestnut has been known to remain
perfectly sound in the roofs of old
churches in Europe for 200 years,
while oak is proverbially durable
and strong. In localities where pine
is scarce the poplar (the tulip tree
and the magnolia acuminita) is con-
sidered to make finer siding and in
side sheathing than pine, while
chestnut, various oaks, the yellow
and black birches, the naples, and
some other hard woods make the
most elegant finishing work. all the
more desirable because it needs no
paint. Oak for frames and flooring
is far stronger than any soft wood,
and if used with the care required,
and learned by experience, 1t is as
amenable to management as any
other timber whatever. We say
nothing of the more ornamental
woods, of which our black walnut,
ash, white walnut, birches, cherry
and curly maple, are unsurpassed
Tor color and beauty by any foreign
timbers.
OF timbers used in the arts, the
soft poplars are in demand for pa
per stock; Eastwood is equally val
liable for the same purpose, and is
the best of all timber for making
carriage bodies. Hickory supplies
the toughest material for spokes of
wheels, dogwood furnishes the ma
terial for weavers' shuttles; black
oak supplies slaves through which
molasses will not penetrate; the
great swamp oak splits into slaves
for sugar hogsheads, and is valuable
for building for it is not absorbent
Of grease, has good veining, and is
as durable as oak, even tor fence
boards and pickets. Birch supplies
all the spools FOR thread; willow is
used for spinners' bobbins; in short,
there Is not a timber tree grown that
is worthless OF cannot be turned to
some useful purpose. And as the
natural forest growth is removed
from the yet uncleared land and
trees are grown .or profit, unthought
Of uaes will be found for even the
small growth which is now despised
as wholly worthless.
There is no soil so poor or so cum
bered with stones that it will not
grow some kind of timber. The
poorest sand will grow birches, white
pines, spruces and white poplar.
Rocky soil produces the hardest and
most beautifully veined woods;
swamps will bear oaks, naples, cher
ry, white walnut, and other valuable
timbers, while uplands, of which
the surface has been denuded of fer
tility, will bear the best varieties of
timbers, which in few years will
bring up from the deep subsoil q
new supply OF fertility to enrich the
surface and cover it with deep and
rich layer of black mold.
Farmers who have timber lands
should learn how to preserve them
and those who have not should
earn how to plant trees and culti-
vate and rear them. 1t is not a
work to be declined because the
profit of it is only to be realized in
The future. 1t is means of accu-
wealth by a slow but sure
md steady saving year by year, and
IS all the more certain because it
cannot be spent or lost during the
of it. Few have an ade-
luate conception of the profit Of the
culture. In England cases are rec
1rded of tracts of land, useless for
have been planted with
.rees at the birth of child as her.
tage to be enjoyed at his majority,
md at the end of the q years the
timber has been sold for several
hundred dollars per acre. Timber
S worth more in that country than
lere, but the prospect is fair, con-
'idering the rapid consumption OF it,
hat in score of years an acre Of
my kind of timber planted now
will be worth many times the pres
mt value of the land, while the land
tself will be greatly improved.
BOokIess Homes.