New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-24
FORESTS AND CIVILIZATION
rHE STUPID 1GNoRANCE oF NEw-YoRKERs.


j. b. Harrison III Garden and Forest. .
We might have had some real forestry mere IN thc
Si S S we h& We D ssd aa the
IN the public welfare and tho perception OF our OBJ
legation TO coming generations which are hescessaig
~ the development and persistence OF civhlzauoh'
The entire Adirondack wilderness should have been
fS ea sehoS Of eoa have been
sed somewhere IN The woods ana young men na oy our,
could have been employed in the of the forests
and woodlands OF other portions of the country Inc
S SasNy wooded TSe Climber could have bssa CIT
of as the trees matired and, OF course should nave
the notion that trees should never be utilized or re- +
moved. Whenever a has come 10 It's best u
sacSd be S down and rs Woo Ga app and ia oep
to provide for succession 81 = Iss ,nDes O'
If the Adirondack forests had been thus inselsemu y
managed and administered they would now have been
for 0"f time S SSsnE r SS SSs Ppo"
have been greatly benefited by the reduction OF taks,
S a a%s TP hsTe had g more Of he
Of Subsistence ana OF comfort and happiness lna a,
5 5sSr fS sS' and aiS n S svorSc
conditions than nov. The forests would have peen
Gone OF, Increasing in value TO the people of the state
with the increasing density OF population ann os
The Adirondack region is no, At for agriculture 20
io,s and these should have been maintained forever
1t IS Indeed. impossible 10 disturb these conditions
without destroying The region itself and annihilang
everything that makes Il OF any value. ! uouet u
an instance OF more obvious sua s can hs soUd
IN The Whole world Nature made this region for the
permanent and everlasting growth Of forests. ana This
sole and exclusive adaptation to a most important
function should have been recognized - ,.... oo,.,,
be saved by Legislation, one of the best possible,
measures would be An Act for the Disbursement OF
sreuure in the North Woods The lumber bushes
work here. Tens OF thousands of acres, entirely uhnt
for any use but forest growth have been stripped OF
trees and by cultivation and pasturage have Deen
rendered incapable of reproducing the only crop Tor
TO see MANY people persist in 49,, tn, The
s sS TO So $ w snS ,d GH G 1 no 80 sass 'T return
for their labors is possible. The thln film Of soil
disappears after few years leaving only the barr;
inert sand gravel and most Of the farming ahd
here IS rolling or billy the slopes soon begin to break
%h sp grow " %der saS dcep peS wear III
waerless tracts of shifting sand or OF clay and gravel
the unhappy traveller where once grew noble forests
fed by perennial springs -, ,,.... .s ,ro.,, n,
farmers In nearly every part of our country
the Atlantic TO The Pacific coast and from Canada TO
so fOrlorn and forbdding as here in northern New.
York The local histories of the regions adjoining inc
the early settlers Of those counties especially Of those
endured by the women of those times The hard
people are Interested In contemporary history. there
Is no record or observation of these mlseries
na ns fsi ness w" for ssrcur i0 p to
the scany growth OF vegetation which the farmer $
toll produces here cut OIL by fOsts in boh spring ana
autumn. and In many places even In The mlddle OF
summer, while IN the southern states OF this county
beneath most genial skies The effort to farm these
hospitable lands has also boon the source OF
large proportion of the fires which have destroyed
50 much Of The remaining forest Land Is cleared by
being burned over and In dry time the IRE extends
from the faow 10 the woods despite the best SHOrs
70 keep II within bounds, as II Is common saying III
the woods that such cenhagration Is Often con
the next spring In the burned woods without any
clearing whatever. and raises q crop IN the ashes
great deal Of The farming land' here has beer
brought into cultivation IN This way. IL Is all from
cess and the inevitable end, the ruin and disappear
arce of the soil itself, is speedily reached Man has
power 10 create a new world. lie mas not YET
learned how TO take Of the one which he inheii
The accumulation of the soil of the planet out OF
which must come everything that supports human
life civilization aud happiness has been the slow, pa
tient process Of vast and unimaglnable periods
Of vegetation. While the forests stand OH these
mountains. the SOIL out of which they, spring
grows perpetuslly richer aud II would con;
nuc 10 do forever II had yet become rational
being Each years LEAKAGE as it grows and falls
wins and deposits for little more of the precious
material out of which all thhgs human arc fashioned,
lts another slight increment nom the dark province
where all i inert and lifcess, mp into @ light ana
starts II on its shining way 10 The realm wnere II
shall take its part in The play Of consciousness The
stones are thus changed 70 bread. Bat since man
began his work in these regions he has bloted Oi'
over great areas the results of millions of years of
Natures patient toll. and has brought back and 70
established here the hard and fOrbiddng conditions
under which she began her processes OF Vcget able
10 redeem aud these vast tract, of Scowhed
and dcsOlatc stone.