The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-10-04
OUk DISAPPEARING FUkES'S.
A Question that is Deserving Of Serious
Consideration


writes the following timely letter 10
the Neaos and Courier about the pre-
vaillug criminal waste Of f'rest timbrr:
Uuless some plan can be devised TO
check the great waste"f what, # prop
erly managed, is Il 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 10 show for their wau-
ton and lnexcusanle destruction
To those who ouiy live for The pres
ent. and take no thought for the fu-
ture, the above remark may seem q
grossly exaggerated Que, but little re
fectlon vii. easily drmoustI ate llstruth
and furthermore show the lupe.a'lve
Importance uf devising some system
attic plan by which the waste may re
checked, aud the land already de
prived Of its timber reotocked with
trees that iu the future will prove u
great source of profit.
As matter Of course the demaud
| for lumber for the innu'Ierable uses
! to which it IS put mSst be supplied,
but this can be easily done WITHOUT
any real Injury to our forests, provid-
ed that only the ripe or fully grown
trees were used and little Intelligent
care be given to the young trees that
would spring up iu the places Of the
| ones that We're cut down
Uuquestionably the most destructive
agent to our forests has been the tur-
pentine d,stilleries, for, in addition I'd
running the timber, they imp"veilsh
the laud to such an extent as TO 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 great
er danger Of being ruined by fire, aud
even if they escape destruction in ,his
way and are converted iuto lumber, 1t
is inferior iu every way, both IN
strength and durability, to t e lumber
made from the uuboxed trees.
The saw mill is nut really SO injuri-
GUS to the forests, as only the large
trees are used, the main trouble with
tnem being that SO many piue forests
have been deprived Of their mosl val
liable trees wlthoutany adequate COM
pen sation 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 tenuuts to de-
story pine forests in order that they
may half cultivate the land and make
a hundred or two pounds Of cotton. or
three or four bushels Of corn per acre,
the whole crop being worth 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
haustible, and in accordance with this
belief were valued in proportion, thou
sands of acres oe our Guest timbered
lands being sold for mere fraction of
their value and that, too, in mauy
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
| dicatcs are buying up all Of our avail
able timber lands at very low price,
and that, too with an iroa-clad ar
rangement that puts the owrcr 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 rs long a.period
as he chooses to hold it.
The presence Of large forests has 4
considerable effect on the temperature,
making it warmcrin 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 billiards that are
so prevalent on the treelcss plains of
the northwestern States are due almost
entirely to the absence OF timber;
there being absolutely nothing to
break the force Of the wind. We're
there no forests in South Carolina the
thermometer would show at least 20
or 25 degrees greater range in the tcn-
pcrature; thutis. from extreme hcatto
extreme cold.