The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-09-07
OUR TREE WASTE,
a Constant Deplorable Cutting.
A REMEDY IN SCIENTIFIC FOR
RESTRY.
Saturday Evening Post.

l
for the preservation OF our woods b
: placing as first in importance the de
velopnent OF wood pulp and other in
, dustries in the threatened districts
! 10 give passing wage to a passin,
population he would destroy forest.
that, intelligently projected, would
; furnish work and wages for centuries.
Americans are the most wasteful O
people. They have big fertile coun
try, and they act as though it were
impossible to exhaust its resources.
But the immense Increase in Its growth
the constant enlargement of industries
that require the destruction of nat
ural material, must bring us to pause
Natural gas was burned without stint
just after its discovery, with the result
that only enough remains for three
years. We are told that the anthracite
supply in this country cannot last much
more than hundred years longer. AL
ready some OF the prairie lands that
were belieysd to be inexhaustible, re.
qulrlng but one plowing year to keep
them fertile, are tired out, and demand
to be fed. And most astonishing of
our wastes is that of our woods. in
which rests one Of our best sources OF
wealth and on which we rely for water.
Whether we use timber for houses and
ships or not, we must drink, and in
chopping off our forests we are re-
duclng our springs ergo, our brooks,
riyers and ponds ergo, the fertility of
the land: ergo, the population there
of.
1t has been explained again and
again, yet seems ever to require new
emphasis, that the trees act as umbrel-
las to protect the fallen rains from
quick evaporation and give time to
them to soak into the soil; also, that
they create with their fallen leaves and
decayed branches, the vegetable mould
In which succeeding forms of plant
lite find their nutrlment. Strip hill
OF Its timber, and the rain runs swiftly
down, causing freshet in the river at
its foot, because there is nothing to
stay it. Worse still, it carries more or
less soil with it, so that In a little time
the hill is barred to its rocky frame.
The mischief is that it requires years
and years to repair a damage that
party of woodmen can inflict in
day.
The domes of granite one sees in the
Adirondacks and on Mount Desert
show how difficult it is to persuade
vegetation back again when rocks are
bare OF mould for roothold. In other
places that have been re-foresued, |
through natural increase in the woods !
and consideration on the part of the |
lumb mbermen, the water has not come |
back with the trees. The mould that
held the springs has dried and washed
away, and centuries must pass before a
new sponge is created by the slow
deposit of aged trunks and fallen
leaves.
The cutting is deplorable. 1t i'm
plies not merely the destruction of
beauty, which is cause enough for lam
entatlon, but hardship, especially in
country districts 1t i'm plies a lessen
ing number OF birds, our bright, tune
Ful, useful little friends, because they
cannot secure nesting places 1t implies
4 check on tha fertility of the surround
ng country; it implies disastrous
1oods in Spring, when the snows melt,
here being no soil to hold the moist
Ire and no scroen of limbs or leaves to
'hadow the drifts from the northern
un it implies lessening rainfall, with
Increasing drought it implies the ulh-
nate conversion of deforested tracts in
o desert.
The case of Spain is familiar one.
It was once we'll wooded and capable
# sustaining large agricultural pop
llatiOn. Its trees were relentlessIy
lewn down by greedy spoilers, with
he result that, in time, districts once
ertlle became rainless and dusty, the (
egetable mould disappeared, the
treams dwlndled, and the population
vas driyen from the soil into the cities,
where many became beggars, advent
lrers, or laborers at uncongenial tasks
Or wretched wages. To this day the
rid districts remain as Natures protest .
gainst mans destructiveness and U
elfshness.
There is remedy for this and it is q
lme it was applied. It consists in .
forestry. It is not necessary
0 restrict the cutting of timber to a I
reat extent. It needs only little ln-
diligence and little after work in E
lanting. A hill should never be de-
crested. The largest end oldest trees E
GA d
seer. thu The Kind You llaw AwaJs bopef Fl