Evening star., 1897-01-02

~< are ample If we will
only take advantage
- of them. Men say
~ that we shall be out
OF fuel Tor he1, ,,ld power production in
comparatively short time. just because
they foresee the possible exhaustion of the
coal supply. But there need be no alarm,
even in behalf of future generations It is
true that, in time. the available coal will
all be gone, providing its burning Is con-
tinued. But while that is being done, ma
tIre will be making more fuel, if men will
only encourage her little, and as a busi-
ness, this encouragement will be quite as
profitable as most occupations.
LAS long as the sun shines we can get
power. We get it all from the sun now,
grown ages ago and slowly transformed to
almost pure carbon. But we don't have to
wait for trees to turn to coal in order to
burn them. Trees will grow wherever
there is sunshine and soil. Once their
growth Is started, nature will give man the
equivalent of a ton of coal in forest growth
every year on every acre of soil in any of
the non-arid parts of the earth. And there
is enough waste ground--that is, ground
that cannot be cropped because 1t is too
hilly or too wet or something-tO make
room for all the fuel growth required. All
L
careful study of forestry and the laying
down and observation of certain rules for
the growth, preservation and proper cut
ting Of trees, and the man who owns a few
acres of waste land will be able to make
as big net profit out of his fuel crop as
he who raises any other sort of crop. At
present prices. indeed. the equivalent of a
ton of coal to the acre of waste ground
would yield better profit than almost any
other crop known"
supply for City.
A little investigation is sufficient to show
that Mr.. Edison's notions as to the world S
fuel supply. above briefly stated, are of
stupendous Importance. Within twenty
five miles of New York there are probably,
IN rocky hills and marsh lands, both Of
which could be made to support heavy
growths of fuel timber, but not to raise
farm or garden crop, more than lOO,OOO
acres of ground. and this area according
to Mr.. Edison. would produce the equiva-
lent of 100000 tons of coal year. The to-
tai annual coal consumption of New York,
however, is 6,OOOOOO tons, and 1t would be
necessary to go more than twenty-five
miles to get the supply needed; but within
the territory from which the coal supply OF
the present is obtained, the amount of fuel
that might be produced by tree-groWtng
would be more than enough to supply New
York, and all the cities within that terri
tory now using coal, for an indefinite Pc
riod
This district includes eastern Pennsylva-
mia and northern New Jersey. and is Joined
by the southeastern part OF New York, a
vast region that Is largely mountainous,
abounding in steep hillsides and rocky
stretches. Only small portions of this
gion are good for farming and the whole
was originally covered with heavy and lux
urious forest growth. This forest has been
mostly cut away and not renewed, a most
wasteful proceeding, to remedy which the
various much-talked-of forestry commits
sions are now beginning to labor.
The prof1ta bleneSs OF forest growing for
fuel production would vary greatly in diff
ferent localities. but at present prices it
would be quite as great as farming; prob
ably greater when it is remembered that
no yearly cultivation would be needed, that
the labor of cutting of the trees would be
less than harvesting the crop, and that the
original value of the land would be much
below that of farm land. Hundreds of
thousands of acres now almost bare of
trees and unfit for anything in their pres
ent condition could be bought for $50 an
acre. that in ten or fifteen years-at most
twenty-would yield a gross Of s. or S. an
acre, or net Of s. or 81.
Beauty of the Landscape.
The 100000 acres waste land compare
lively close to the city Of New York, now
altogether unproductive, would then yield,
at the lowest figures, 100000 year. AT
the same time the raising Of trees for fuel
landscape. Uninteresting semi-marshes
and bare and SCARED hillsides would be
clothed with living green In the summer
and with the gorgeous colors Of dying
leaves In the autumn, while even in the
winter the flats and hills would be more
beautiful because of their forestization
than as they are now. Still further the
systematic and continuous cutting of the
timber as fast as it reached the proper
size would give employment to large num-
Ter 10 70 -nrYll
shelter to all sorts of game. SO that sport
might again flourish. And what Is true Of
the vicinity of New York Is true almost
s ger orally nearly every big city in the
near by. where wood. as a substitute for
coal, could be produced at good profit
Mr.. Edison believes that all this will
ultimately, be brought to pass, and he de-
nghtS tc dwell upon the economic and es-
thetic possibilities Of the scheme.
But there are some other schemes for the
utilization of natures forces in which Mr.
Edison fails to see such practical possibili-
ties as are sometimes foretoId One Of
these is the utilization of the rise and fall
of the tides. Away back in the remote past
men living on the seacoast built tide-mills
and gathered power for the grinding of
flour and meal and for other purposes, from
the passage through these mills of the ebb-
ing and flowing tides. One by one, however
these mills have been abandoned. until now
only few are in practical operation. Mr.
Edison says that this Is because the wcrld
has got beyond them.
What is needed most in .he produc ton
of power he said, "is steadiness Tide
mills work intermittently. and, no matter
how built, the intermittent feature of their
work cannot be done away with. For a
certain time the tide is rising every day:
then there is a time of sla ck water; then
there is time of falling tide; then the tide
rises again. and on. This fact alone
prevents the production of steady power
and. as tides vary with the seasons and
with the wind, the amour. of available
power from them must also vary.
Machinery Expensive.
1.-The cumbrousness and the extremely ey-
pensive nature of the machinery necessary
to the production of grea. power is another
obstacle. 1 have seen 1t stated that the
tides in New York's harbor alone could be
made to do all Of New York's work. but 1
fail to see how. There Is, of course, q rise
and fall there of tremendous body of
water for few feet But to utilize that
water movement, machinery Of vaster ex-
tent and greater cost than i;as ever been
set up In one place would be necessary
and, when 1t had been finished ana set up
The resulting power. in my Judgment, would
not pay fair profit on rhe Investment and
the current expenses of keeping It in Ne.
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