Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-08-03
SAVING THE FORESTS.

The government. in making a national
issue of the tree. says the Arena, has
begun a great movement. which, II is
hoped, will place the the American for
est beyond the ravages OF the land
skinner"
1t is replantlng denuded forest areas
starting new ones and conserving old
ones. 1t is studying the problems of
the small owners of 500 COO 600 acres Of
wood lots and showing them not only
how they can successfully practise for
estry but compete with the holders of
large Interests.
It tells the man who owns timber land
how TO get the most out of II; the farm
cr who has none, what trees TO plant
and how. IT shows the lumberman how
to avoid waste and the millmau how TO
save,
During the present regime the reserve
areas have been Increased By 100000
acres, or exactly 6S7,0 square miles, an
area nearly the size of Nebraska.
1t Is estimated that forest fires des-
troy 100000 acres of timber land
every year. This is a tremendous ad-
dltion to the waste of reckless lumber
ing men. which have been asslduously
engaged IN strangling the goose that
laid the golden egg.
An illustration Of the good accom-
plished by the forestry service may be
taken from the turpentining interests.
The unbrOken forest OF long leaf pine
which once extended through the South
ern states. practically from the Atlantic
seaboard 10 Texas, had been so far ex-
hausted that expert estimates gave the
Industry but fifteen years, more to live.
More than half of the original forest
had been exhausted and much OF the
rest depleted from reckless and waste
full methods.
The service has introduced DR..
Charles II. Hertys cup system, in
stead OF the old destructive box sys-
tenn thus prolonging the life of the
naval store industry which was
threatened with immediate extinction.
The Herty system produces not only
higher grade resins than were pos
sible to the other, but 1t increases the
turpentine output by about 40 per
cent At n cost of about $4,000 all
told. the forest service has in this
one item added $1,000, 900 a year TO
the naval stores products, But more
important than this is the fact that
It has not only saved the turpentine
industry but the turpentine forests
from humiliation.
The service has undertaken as one
phase of it's task the solution of the
problem of floods in rivers, For In
stance: The Kansas river floods of
1908 destroyed S20,000,000 worth of
property and 100 lives One Of the
I1lOSt ItIlllt NdIitNS OIl VIC N'iAhliAthNs
100 miles lone was partly destroyed
Here the rich soil was cut away: there
II was covered with sand six and eight
feet deep over the field; holes were
cut out and lakes left behind. out of
100000 acres of wonderfully fertile
soil 10000 were completely destroyed;
10000 more lost 30 per cent of their
value. and the uncertainty left behind
deprecated the value of the whole
valley.
The forest service has devised sys-
TENS of tree planting for the river
. banks, the sand covered and deeply
eroded lands. The object Of the first
| is to prevent washing of the banks,
| TO protect the whole area from the
| full force of the floods and In time of
overflow to check the tendency to cut
new channels. The last two systems
are for ultimately retaining the now
destroyed lands and making them pro
ductive. The useless sand lands will
grow cottonwood and reclaim the land
for crops. a most interesting discov-
cry was made after the flood. Where
the protected growth of cottonwood
which had not been cut away checked
the rush of flood waters, the land be-
yond was generally covered not with
sand but silt. and is often more fertile
than before. With extensive planting
of trees another flood would bring
back, instead of further desolation
return of fertility to much of the land
now barren.--New York Sun.