The Portland daily press., 1888-12-05
Call for a Forestry Convention at
Bangor

Perhaps nothing would now contribute more 10
lnc Growth and prosperity of our State thsn
restoration OF It's forests. With a rugged SOIL re-
curing hard and prolonged labor to fit il for
treatment by the plow and the moving machine
llan under severe climate that gives us short and
precallous summers ard early frosts, Maine COM
petes az a disadvantage with the prairie States in
all agricultural productions, except hay oats and
potstoes. Its lack of coal and iron, lis distance
from market and its inadequate food supply are
serious lmpediInents 10 the prosecution Of ali
Drahcbes OF manufacture, except those which its
own hsheries, forests and quarres support
II was The extensive, almost unbroken forest of
Maine that first attracted enterprising people to
settle II and make 1t their home: 1t was by mar
ketlng our forest products, and the shipbuilding
and commerce thus developed that our people
mainly acquired the wealth which they have ex-
pended IN clearing lands, building roads and rail
roads, dH ellihgs and factories, The unnatural
emigration to other States, and the arrest in the
iapid early growth of our own, must, we think,
De chiefly attributed to the shrinkage and de-
strucion of our forests, and the disastrous effect
this destruction had had upon all the productive
Industries OF our people.
Those, however, who have most carefully stud
LED the problem, do not attribute this shrinkage
and loss of the tree growth to the annual cutting
for sale Of merchantable timber and fuel They
believe that under such operations prudenly con
Quoted, our forests might not only hold their own
Dut actually become, from decade to decade, more
about from sweeping fires, carelessly set or not
promptly arrested, and from thriftless manage
inent, whlch wiser public sentiment, reinforced
by JudlclouS laws, might have prevented.
Ii is not yet too late to arrest the process of de-
vastslion and the restoration OF nearly the origi
nal breadth OF our arboreal acreage would be SO
aided by favorable conditions of climate as to re-
qulre Dut little, II any, sowing of seeds or plant
Ing OF young trees II Is believed that two-ihirds
OF the surface of Maine might be devoted perina.
nently TO the growth of timber, and that there
would be ample acreage left for all the cultivation
ana pasturage the most successful development
OF agriculture could demand. So, to utilize the
thousands OF square miles of rocky, hilly and
swampy lands in our State would promote and
not restrict agriculture, by enhancing the prices
OF these products of our soil and climate, which
the lumbermen consume, and by moderating the
tendencies to long continued drouths; it would
aid manufacturing by making more eouable the
HOW OF streams that supply their prOpuisiye DOW
er; and 1t would stimulate commerce and Shin
building by largely increasing the product of a
bulky article OF expectation, always sure of re-
celying remunerative price.
The unde rsigned, believing that il is hiphlv y
pedient to direct public attention to the urpent
necessity of doing whatever wise and Combined
effort may be able to do, to prevent and punish
the destruction OF woods by the careless Setting
OF hres, and to encourage the planting and nres.
ervatiOn OF timber trees respectfully invite their
fellow citizens throughout the State who are in
terested In the general subject, TO meet M Com
mon Council room, in the City Hail. in Bangor on
Tuesday, the 9Th of DECEMBER next az ? o,clocL
IN the afternoon Tor the purpose of discussing the
question of the forests In their relation he The
general industries of the people, of listening 10
addresses upon the subject by persons who have
maac 1t special study, aud If deiberaiup nnon
and recommending such acts of lepisIafIon es
may be deemed necessary to encourage the planf
ing and preservation of timber trees and To les
sen the danger If their destruction by careless
fires or wantOn trespaSS: