St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-03
Before a Large and Interested
Audience at the CONNER
eial Club.
DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS
A Great Hindranee to Civili-
ZatiOn--A Word On For
est Fires.

1.-THE Battle Of the Trees, or the EYC-
luton Of Forest Growth Through All
Ages" was the subject of an illustrated
lecture given last evening at the Com
mercial club by DR.. E. B. FernoW. chief
OF the forestry division of the interior
department. DR.. Fernow first showed
the proportion Of forest. water. desert
and plain by a colored map. Then, by
series of beautiful and interesting
StereOpticon views, the lecturer traced,
In a pleasant aud lucid manner, the
formation of soil and the growth and
spread Of forest trees.
1.-The annual value of product of our
forests" he said, was placed at $780,
600, COO-when we had the forests. be-
fore the vandal hand of man had de-
strOyed and decimated it was much
greater"
Picture after picture was thrown OH
the canvas to make plain the points of
the lecture. From the densenesS of
the tropical forest to the barren home
Of winter i'll the arctics, where The for
est cannot intrude, the lecturer traced
the growth of plant and forest life,
from the geographical and the botanical
point of view. Soil-breakerS, soil
makers and SOil-improverS were pict-
ureG, like the various species Of cacti,
sage brush and grasses, and theu the
various stages of tree development, the
battle Of the forest, struggle of the diff
ferent species for light, air, heat. moist
ure, and so forth. One of the very IN
teresting exhibits was a section Of the
Amethyst mountain in Yellowstone
park, showing fifteen
Distinct Forest Groyyths,
of the most Iuxuriant species, where
now are found only spruce. scrub pine
and similar hardy grOwths.
What might be called the second Sec
ton of DR.. Fernow's talk forcibly dem
Onstrated the criminal folly of sforest
destruction. He showed in pictorial
progression, and in decidedly impress
Sive manner, that the useless and un-
necessary destruction of the forests is
tremendous hindrance to civilization
and bar to human comfort and profit.
1--WE have too much legislation and
too little administration" lie said. He
then demonstrated how forest fires are
directly encouraged by carelessness on
the part of those who should be most
interested in preventing them. TO make
one foot of subsoil 300 to 500 years are
required-yet man turns the fertile,
furest-covered area back into an inhos-
pitable waste without heed of bis crime
against civilization.
Eight million acres of tillable land
has been spoiled and rendered desolate
in France, and in the past twenty-five
years the French government has spent
S45, 000,C coo seeking to make TINS waste
land habitable. 1t will take four times
that amount te restore the former ben
efictnt conditions. minnesota should
take a lessen from this" said Dir. Fer
now, and the pictured representations of
the destruction wrought in France lent
force to his earnest words. Ten per
cent Of the rich uplands of Mississippi
has been converted into bad lands in
thirty years by wanton destruction of
forests. A marvellous contrast was that
of the German methods of forest
culture and protection with our own.
In Germany the forests are improved
and developed to be worth many times
their natural value. They are laid out
in blocks, SO that in case of fire the de-
structiOn can be confined TO the imme-
diate area where it originates. In con.
cluSion. the lecturer depicted in glowing
words the soil value lost and the future
usefulness destroyed by careless use Of
natures abundance. Such lecture
would be invaluable delivered in the
numbering regions. 1t is q pity, too,
that every member OF the Minnesota
legislature could not have heard it and
taken Its true philosophy and practical
suggestions to heart.