Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1902-04-24
Two Forest Reserves.
philadelphia. Press

.iltut experts VINO have Visited ana tur'
,r,ed the territory. NOthern and South
en- varieties there meet and comminglt,
making ii IN ideal region for the lover and
STUDENT nf The American silva The sUil
AID cllmste aud abundant rainfall com
blnr to give the most favorable conditions
to Iree development. The cOniierous
c,,rsreen trees are there in every variety,
INT with them in abundant measure and
=, eat dertl 'Dment grow the oak, beech,
ash, ch. sinu!, walnut, cherry, tulip, mn-
berry, magnolia and list Of others that
il would be tedious tn recile. Congress
has authorized forest reservations else
where. |: is now proposed to set apart
and save to future generations some A. w,
Up0 acrrr Of this Southern primevai forest
growing in natural parks, with setting OF
casradeS and gorges, the sound OF many
waters and the greater. elevation OF the
Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains
look ing down upon it.
Congress cannot do posterity greater
service than to save for 1t portion oi
this magnificent heritage For under the
natural law of human sellishness, short
sivhtedn, Sc and carelcsshcss these prlm-
eval forests are doomed. The movable
sawmill is eating into it in every direction,
leaving behind it mass IF intianlmable
debris that sooner or later is tie starting
point of a forest fire more destructive in Il
week than hundred sawmilld III an entire
year. For some reas n the whole OF this
section seems to have strong attraction
for side.hill farmers. They have cleared
nearly one. quarter Of the area under con-
sideration and their sleepy-inclned farms,
after four or five years of teaching, wash
ing and erosion, are worthless for farming
purposes and have lost the capacity to re-
produce Il fresh forest growth. Primeval
forests are getting rare in tins country.
The forests most familiar to US now are
second growth, too thick set for beauty
and often nearly irhpenetrabe and with a
stand Of trees on the average much less
valulble than the original growth. Be-
fore the country is entir' ly cnt over let us
save at least some Samples Of the original
forest for future generations.
A bill to acquire this natural Appalach.
ian forest reserve was favorably reported
in tie Senate Of the last Congress, but got
no further. This year the same bill has
b'en favorably reported in the House. 1t
will Doubtless pass there. for the present
House has shown that it comprehends the
value of unique natural possessions that
require legislation to prevent Their
destruction. Last week the House passed
without opposition the bill to set apart as
a natural park the land occuDied by the
petrifed forest of Arizona. THIS is a
stone forest in q desert, great curiosity
and of value TO science. since it illustrates
on large scale an important chapter in
the geological history of the globe. This
preadamite forest of trees, five feet in
diameter and forty feet in height. WAS once
lowered from the light of prehistoric CAV
down deep to the bottom Of an Old SCI,
and there it lay until there had accumul'
ated upon it deposit of forty feet Of soft
sandstone, when the processes Of nature
upifted it to 1000 feet above the sea level
Wind and water have gradually freed the
forest from its sandstone covering, and
there I, lies today fallen forest of great
Trees turned to chalcedony, but looking at
distance like "a freshly drifled lot of
water w,rn trees"
1t is well to preserve this natural curns
ity, and necessary, 100, for chalcedony
may be onyx or it may be agate and have
great commercial value. Judge Lacy. in
ivocating the bill, saiI ''the stone under
the bark Of these trees preserve more than
the colors of the Rainbow, combining
lnrple, pink, white, black, gray. blne.
orange in endless variety" A miserable
vandal st up mill in this pelrilied forest
and tried to work mp the trees into sub
6s;!.itn,e for emery. lie was stopped, not
by The Government Eut liy ,;Ae. discovery
of stone better suited to his purpose +
elsewhere.
The House has voted to save this petri-
fled forest. We hope the Senate will fol-
low its lead, and then that both branches
will croAn this good workMby passing
another bill to save eloriotN segment Of
Americas ancient living forest in the
region of its best development, the South.
ern APPEAL acLian Mountains