The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-02-25
Onr Forests.


the people of the United States, and 10 |
those of Highland county particularly
on account of the elevated condition of |
the most of the land within its borders. |
Every year millions of feet OF lumber |
are cut and shipped to home or foreign
markets until our hills are in danger of
being denuded by the wholesale slaugh-
ter. In Hillsboro alone are four or five |
lumber companies engaged in this busi-
ness and peripatetic saw.mills roam up |
and down the highways seeking what |
they may devour.
Few people stop to consider what will
be the inevitable result they know that |
coal has to a great extent taken the
place OF wood as fuel; that wire and
picket fencing has decreased the demand
for material for such purposes that the
proportion of woodland to field on a
farm need not therefore be so large as
formerly and so they sell the monarchs
of the forest and even the smaller trees
down to the saplings, almost thus un-
covering the ground and laying it open
to the storm, which washes away the
mold and in course of time will leave
the rocks, which lie so near the surface
in Southern Ohio, bare.
Has the reader ever noticed that
spring in or near a piece OF woodland
has always fuller supply of water than
one at distance from timber, or that
noted springs of early days furnish now
but scant supply &? And has he ever
considered the reason of this? The
solution is an easy one; it is that the
fallen leaves, twigs and boughs, the
MOSES and logs server as sponge to
absorb and retain the rain and melted
snow that it may sink into the earth and
supply the sources of our streams.
When the ground is "cleared" this
sponge is washed away, the water, seek
ing its level, rushes down the gullies,
ravines and creeks in torrent, carrying
with it the loan and vegetable matter,
the moses and the fungi which have
formed the sponge and at later time
the soil the springs Ego dry" the fields
are washed" and if the process is con-
| tinued our lands become sterile.
In the fiat land north of us and in the
"swamps" of the western portion of our
county the result will not be so dis
astrous, but already farm lands in the
southeastern and eastern portions OF
Highland county are in many cases un-
saleable. Only few days since 1 heard
the Sheriff auctioning land in Brush
creek township at the pitiable price of
one hundred and sixty-six and two. third
dollars for one hundred and thirty. seven
acres and have known of other sales at
about the same rate. These lands FORM
erly supported their owners but the
soil has washed into the narrow valleys
or gone on down to enrich the wide bot
toms of Paint or Brushcreek, and yet
these were formerly among the best
wooded lands in the county, but the
lumber merchants and the tan bark men
have wrought havoc there to such an
extent that, although there still remain
great tracts Of woodland, the soil will
not support the people and Brushcreek
decreased in population according to the
census, during the years between 1880
and 1890 by much larger per cent. than
did any other township in the county.
am aware that the oak trees OF
Southern Ohio are giving signs of decay
from unknown causes and will probably
within few years be unfit for market.
This being the case it is OF course proper
to cut them now, but the walnut is about
gone, the chestnut-oak is nearly extermi.
mated, the poplar almost thing of the
past, the hickory not abundant, the
beech in many portions of the county
was always rare, the elm slowly disap.
pearing and if the combined destructive
operations of nature and of man con.
tinue our children may see Southern
Ohio practically treeless and destitute
of water.
AS to the remedy it is evident to those
who have followed me and given credit
to my statements that the proper thing
to do in order to leave to the next gen
Grafton a legacy of fertile lands and pros
, porous homes is to forego the lpresen
profit for the welfare of those who are tt
succeed us. 1t is for them mainly tina
; we toll through life at any rate, will they
Al = II n
cannot till? The man that killed tht
hen that laid the golden eggs was NJ
more foolish than are the landowner
of Southern Ohio in destroying thei
timber. 1t is true that the present gen
. Grafton may not feel the effects of sucl
3 destruction to any great extent but ou
/ children will not rise up and call u
< blessed should we persist in cours
3 that will bring to them lands too moo