Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-09-27
aMistellaneous Reaaing.
OUR DISAPPEARING FORESTS.
A Question That Ii Deserving Of Serious
Consideration.


Consideration.
Mr.. w. D. Woods, of Darligton, who
is quite an expert on the subject writes
the following timely letter to The
News and Courier about the prevailing
criminal waste of forest timber:
Unless some plan can be devised to
check the great waste of what, if prop
erly managed, is a great source of
wealth, it will not be great many
years before our magnificent pine for
ests will have disappeared, and there
will be nothing to show for their wan
ton and inexcusable destruction.
To those who only live for the pres
ent, and take no thought for the future,
the above remark may seem a grossly
exaggerated one, but little reflection
will easily demonstrate. its truth and
furthermore show the imperative i'm
portance of devising some systematic
plan by which the waste may be
checked, and the land already de-
prived of its timber restocked with
trees that in the future will prove h
great source of profit.
As matter of course the demand
for lumber for the innumerable uses to
which il is put must be supplied, but
this can be easily done without any
real injury to our forests, provided
that only the ripe or fully grown trees
were used and little intelligent care
be given TO the young trees that would
spring up in the places of the ones that
were cut down.
Unquestionably the most destructive
agent to our forests has been the tur-
penline distilleries, for, in addition to
running the timber, they impoverish
the land to such an extent as 10 very
much retard the growth of the young
trees that stand up in the open places.
Even when the trees are not killed
outright by tapping, they are in greater
danger of being ruined by fire, and
even if they escape destruction in this
way and are converted into lumber, it
is inferior in every way, both in
strength and durability, to the lumber
made from the unlocked trees.
The saw mill is not really so iDjuri
GUS to the forests, as only the large
trees are used, the main trouble with
them being that so many pine forests
have been deprived of their most val
liable trees without any adequate COM
pensation to the owner of the land,
being practically sold at about the cost
of saving.
Another great source of destruction
is the habit of allowing tenants to de-
stroy pine forests in order that they
may half cultivate the land and make
hundred or two pounds of cotton, or
three or four bushels of corn per acre,
the whole crop being worth a great
deal less than the standing trees.
The truth of the matter is that our
timber resources were originally so
great that they were regarded as mex
hauslible, and in accordance with this
belief were valued in proportion, thou
sands of acres of our finest timbered
lands being sold for mere fraction of
their value and that, too, in many
cases, by owners who were not forced
to sell and who ought to have known
better than to have parted with their
valuable possessions for mere song.
This inexcusable sacrifice has been
notable especially in the case of swamp
lands that have often sold at less price
per acre than the value of one large
cypress tree.
Even at the present time timber syn.
dicates are buying up all of our avail
able timber lands at a very low price,
and that, too, with an iron-clad ar
rangement that puts the owner of the
land entirely at their mercy, the con-
tract being that the buyer has all the
time he wishes for the removal of the
trees, virtually giving him absolute
control of the land for as long a period
as he chooses to hold it.
The presence of large forests has a
considerable effect on the temperature,
making it warmer in winter and cooler
in summer than it would be were the
forests destroyed. The northers that
make the climate of Texas so unpleas-
ant and the terrible blizzards that are
so prevalent on the treeless plains OF
the northwestern states are due almost
entirely 10 the absence of timber;
there being absolutely nothing to break
the force of the wind. Were there no
forests in South Carolina the thermom-
eter would show at least 20 or 25 de-
grees greater range in the temperature /;
that is, from extreme heat to extreme
cold.
The kingdom of Saxony, with about
one.third the area of South Carolina,
easily supports a population of nearly
5000, 900 people, and this, too, despite
the fact that two. fifths of the whole
land area is reserved for forests. The
forests, instead of being an expense,
are a source of considerable revenue,
TO say nothing of the good they &C.
complish in improving the climatic
and atmospheric conditiong of the
country. The same rule, with very
little variation, prevails throughout
the whole of Germany.
In Spain the timber has been de-
stroyed, with no attempt to replace it !;
the consequence being that it formerly
supported much larger population
than it does at the present day.
In Germany things are not left to
chance, but all the state lands are in
charge of expert foresters and the pro-
cess of replanting the forests is con-
stantly going on.
,,,1, that Uill nonnr