Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-08-10
ABOUT FORESTRY.
ITS PROGRESS INA TREELESS STATE
or The WEST.

by the Lumber Men-The Annual Rain
faII-Torestry in the state of New York.
Objects.
In writing on forestry Gen. James S.
Brisbin, u. s. A., not only presents the
general features of his theme but de-
scribes the peculiarities and uses of each
American tree. While 5000. 900 trees are
cut in this country every year only 1,000,-
600 are planted. To reproduce the for
ests that have been cut away would tako
forty generations. OF course no one de-
SireS to turn the country into q wilder
ness again, but there is danger line In
forest destruction that has already been
passed in many localities in America as
in whole regions, now the scene of DESC
lation, in Europe.
When Gen. Brisbin turned forester the
subject had made no public impression.
Few journals could be induced give
him hearing. One of the first to aid
him with his pen was William Cullen
Bryant. The progress that has been
made is not insignificant. Nebraska,
once called the treeless state, is covered
with young forests, and will soon be as
well tinbered as an eastern state. For
several years past from iJ,000 900 to
In that state Its arbor day is an annual
holiday. The governor of Nebraska offers
q large reward each year to the family
that will set out the greatest number of
forest trees. when / was there" the
general writes, lit was $500 for the first
premium, $400 for the second, and so on
down to $50. Even the women and chill
dren could earn premiums, medals and
diplomas, and great was the competition
for these rewards of the state. Patches
of timber have sprung up everywhere,
and where few years ago only the naked
plain was seen, now waves a goodly for
est" Trees 10 and 10 years old are 30
feet high and to 10 inches in diameter.
Forest trees well cared for grow with
great rapidity in the west. Sage brush
land when irrigated will produce from
twenty-five to fifty bushels of wheat per
acre. The general gives many instances
of the remarkably rapid growth of young
forests planted in Nebraska He has no
doubt that all the plains between the
Missouri river and the Rocky mountains
can be covered with trees if the friends
of forestry persevere.
Speaking of the destruction of the for
ests, Gen. Brisbin says that one firm alone
in western state runs 200 saws. In
to ,030, 600, ,000 feet was cut in single
year. At the present rate, ten or, at the
most, twenty years viii make an end of
the forests in Michigan, Minnesota and
Winconsin. 1t requires $4,000 acres of
Wisconsin timber to supply the Kansas
and Nebraska markets alone. New York
has lost her walnut, maple and hickory,
and has no forests left except in the
Adirondacks
The island of Santa Cruz, in the West
Indies, which twenty-five or thirty years
ago was a garden, is now almost a desert
in consequence OF cutting away the forests.
Owing to the same cause many Of our
American rivers have lost half their use
fulness. The Connecticut i rdly navi-
gable, and the Kennebec and Merrimac
have shrunk one-fourth The Potomac
has lost nearly one-fourth of it's volume,
and the Hudson has declined one sixth.
The recent almost instantaneous and very
destructive July food in the Monongahela
river is calculated to make the people of
the Ohio valley thoughtful on the subject
of disappearing forests. The loss of
millions and the sweeping away of hun
dreds of comfortable homes and industrial
improvements as the result of a single
hard rain is a heavy tax to pay for neglect
New York has taken hold of the forestry
question with considerable earnestness.
Over 200 fire wardens have been appointed
throughout the state to prevent forest
fires. The New York forest commission
has twenty-five foresters in its employ,
located in the eleven northern counties.
Trespassers have been compelled to re-
imburse the state on account Of timber
taken. Timber thieving and the spolia-
tion of forests have been stopped. The
York forest commission was appointed to
preserve the forests for the follos --.g OBJ
jects:
First-For the value of the timber, both
present and future.
Second-For the value of forests as
sanitariums-health resorts for invalids,
summer breathing places for ALL
Third-For the conservation Of the
sources of water supply Both science
and observation agree that forests are
the great reservoirs that hoard tho rain
fall to feed brooks and rivers. The
streams Of Europe have shrunk as the
forests have been cut away. Our own
streams are following on in the same
track.
Fourth-For the increase Of rainfall.
Cautious scientific men are not yet ready
TO assert tuit 1SESct5 increase TIC Tdlil-
fall, but the theory has many supporters
and the belief is fast growing that forests
are such an important factor in supplying
moisture that 1t Is most dangerous pol
icy to strip the country Of its trees.
Fifth-For the climatic and sanitary
influence of forests. There can be little
doubt that forests are great equalizers of
temperature, render tho surrounding
country less liable to violent winds, alb
s0rb malarial and noxious vapors, and act
in many ways benefcially to human
health
A remarkable illustration of the fact
that the clearing of hiflyeeountries is
likely to result III the complete failing of
springs is given BY Mr.. Nev, who states
that in Provence. France, after ali the
olive forests, which had been frozen,
were cut down, a great nurahcr of springs
failed totally. III tie cisy cf Orleans,
after the sugrcnso.ing heielats had been
n - =.