The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1908-05-23

hard surface with a rush, all at once.
1t runs down spongy, soft surface
much more slowly, little by little, and
the forest acts like big sponge. II
soaks up the water, checks it from
rushing down all at once, and brings
about an even flow during the whole
season. Where the slopes are bare
and the soil unprotected, the waters
carry down with them great quaint
ties of soil, gradually filling up the
reservoirs and canals and causing inn
mense damage to the irrigation sys-
tenn
New England, destitute of mines
and precious metals, and practically
without agriculture, depends upon its
forests, streams and manufactures.
The latter grew up because of the wa
ter power. and these water powers
are dependent upon the uniform flow
of the streams. Cutting the forests
seriously impairs the evenness of the
stream flow, causing floods anil
drouths, and thereby threatening the
well being, if not the very lives, IT
whole communities.
The utility of water-power in the
south has been greatly increased for
transmitting electricity. consequent
lly electricity has become "the power
behind the south"
The secretary of the American For
estry Association says that for the
utilization of this power the forest, as
a balance wheel to stream-flow, is abb
fsolutely Indispensable. No system of
reservoirs, however expensive, can
more than supplement the forest, and
in no way can it supply the forests
place. In both New England and the
south, forest cutting has already Sc
riously impaired the usefulness of
water power. Millions of dollars of
government money is thrown away in
scooping out detritus, which should
have been kept, through forests, in
position upon the sides of mountains
and in valleys The best part of the
soil is carried toward the sea. If this
condition continues unchecked the re-
sources of the government will soon
be insufficient to the task of keeping
channels and reservoirs clear.
L P 4 \ & Il d
/ j. CorrigRn. Jr., says: "By employ
ing the forces of nature the task can
be accomplished, and instead of ap-
propriating money to clear out OBJ
structions in streams and deepen
channels, the government should
spend money in such way that the
lstreams would not fill up"
The classification of the different
woods shows how sweeping has been
the destruction. To what we used for
hardwood twenty years ago is added
anything that will saw up into a
board.
| The devastation of hardwood in the
south is as great as the pine in the
north. Stave-fnakers, tie-cutters, We
hicles and neutrality-suspicious. have
caused vast destruction The prices
of lumber have risen fifty per cent.
during the past five years and is still
rising. Last year nearly forty billion
feet of lumber were cut, of which the
railroads used one-third Our stand
ing timber is estimated to be some
| where between fourteen hundred and
two thousand billion feet. If forty
billion are used annually it will last
between thirty-fve to fifty years.
what will the country have to offer to
the coming generation when all of the
trees are gone? In few years large
quantities of lumber will be Imported
into this country and the import duty
J alone will be in excess of the price
of lumber now.
A bill was introduced in congress
last winter, the purpose of which was
to make a forest reserve of the i'm
portant watershed part of the Apa-
lachian system. The constitutionality
was denied by Representative Bart.
lett of Georgia and it was held up by
Speaker Cannon because the speaker
said he was afraid of the immense
cost He certainly does not realize
the tremendous need of his own coun-
; try.