The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-01-23
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.
The Fuel Problem for Farmers and 1T:
Solution.

The Fuel Problem for Farmers and It's
Solution.
In large section of this country the
question whether wood or coal shall be
burned, even by farmers, has long since
been settled. The timbered districts
are mainly east of the Allegheny Mount
aims, and from all the arabic portions
the bulk of timber for fuel OF any other
purpose has been cleared off. In the
great West, the larger portion of that
vast empire was originally treeless.
Through the prairie States, planting of
trees for fruit or protection has greatly
increased the original stock, but they
are generally too valuable to be used as
fuel in competition with the abundant
supplies OF coal near the surface, under
lying thousands of acres in nearly every
State.
The coal of the Western States is all.
or nearly all. of the bituminous or soft
variety. Its abundance and cheapness
Offset the objections which the Eastern
people, accustomed to hard coal, are
ness. In all Western cities majority
of the people use soft coal on account of
its cheapness. 1t is, of course, the fuel
generally used by farmers, many of
whom are able to take supply by max
ing very slight excavations on their own
land. The area of country in which
farmers are made independent by the
coal supplies on their farms is much
larger than Eastern people are apt to
suppose. Many of the Western States
are so largely underlaid with coal that
were it worth while nearly. the entire ter
ritory could be used for mining purposes.
1t is significant indication of the
future of the United States that its coal
supply is greater than that of any other
civilized country. England owes its
greatness to the fact that it has more
coal IN proportion to its territory than
any other country in Europe. But the
supply Of England is known and can
not largely, if at all, be increased.
Statisticians have reckoned that at the
present rate of consumption the supply
of coal in England, at a depth that will
pay for mining, must be exhausted
dreds of years distant, but there has
been scare raised which thoughtful
men view as matter of the very gravest
Importance. Here no such apprehen-
sions are possible So enormous is the
coal supply of the United States that it
is practically inexhaustable.
1t is not certain by any means that
the consumption of coal will 90 on
either in this country or in Europe in
an increasing ratio. Electricity will
probably be used as motive power for
manufacturing and railroad uses. With
this change there will be a decrease in
coal consumption which we can now
scarcely estimate. There is no need to
borrow trouble for the future. The
revelations Oh Providence in regard to
human needs have always been sufi.
cient to meet the exigencies of human
necessities. just at the time when the
whale fisheries were on the point of ex-
haustion, the use of petroleum for
lighting country homes made all other
iliuminations superfuous. Should our
petroleum supply ever fail, of which
there is no present Indication, it is
pretty certain that electrical light will
be so Tar perfected as to take its place.
Undoubtedly the same truth will hold
good, not only in regard to our fuel,
but also to our timber supply. There
has been a needless and causeless scare
on this subject Our forests have dis
appeared rapidly, but before they are
all gone we shall have learned to do
without them much better than we
could now suppose possible. Paper
has been made to take the place Of
woodwork for houses, and, stranger
still, of iron for car-wheels and other
places requiring the greatest of strength.
Much of what IS written on the absolute
necessity of tree planting is now aopar-
slight acquaintance with the present
course of events to prove that It is based
on fallacious reasoning.
For the great majority of farmers in
The older States, the wood-lot, as it now
exists, with all its best timber cut out
and the remainder decaying faster than
1t grows is a useless and expensive in
cumbrance. 1t is certainly so where
land is so located as to be valuable for
cropping. In sections where the farm
ing land is dear, let the wood-Iot be
cleared off as rapidly as possible, and
the wood sold or burned. as it is most
advantageous. Before it is disposed of
there is almost a certainty that the land
will be more valuable for other use than
growing timber. If not, it can be re-
planted with kinds Of trees whose
growth viii be five or ten fold the year
ly increase IN value under the present
system. american Caslsiuotoy