The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-17
Theoretical and Practical
Forestry in the Appala-
chan Forests.
cAROLINA's TIMBER CRUISERS
How Boys From Maine to California
Rich and Poor, Live and Play
and Work on the Wonderful Bllt.
more Estate.
(Day Ellen Wiley in June st. Nich-
OIae 4

CDay Ellen Wiley in June st. Mich
olas.
Up in the heart of the great APP
palachian forest is little colony of
young Americans who can truly be
called woodsmen, for they are living
and working amid the woodland to
gain such a knowledge of the tree
that they can earn Livelihood from
their skill in what the scientist call
forestry. The geography tells us in
a general way that our forests are
among our greatest resources. On
the maps OF many states you will
find here and there big black or
darkened patches that are marked
forests"
These patches are especially no.
tt,eable on The maps Of such states
as Washington and Oregon in the
Pacific region, and Minnesota, Wis
consin and Michigan i'm what we
usally term the northwest. But turn
TO North Carolina, South Carolina
and Tennessee, and here you viii see
the patches that the geography notes
as the forests of the Appalachian
Mountains.
Yes, the woods OH America are one
OF its greatest sources of benefit to
us, for in q single year the lumber
that is sawed from the trees, the fuel
that comes from them for our fires,
the wood pulp made into paper, the
telegraph poles, the bark covering
thar goes into leather and acid are
some OF the items that pay the ma
ton a revenue of nearly a billion and
n quarter OF dollars. Why the fag-
OTIS aud kindling which heat our
homes and cook our food amount to-
over one-thlrd of billion OF dollars
alone. Just the beams, planks and
shingles that are cut in the 25,00O
mills require forty billion "board"
feet annually. So II Is that n great
army is employed in our woods just
to handle the ak and the saw in the
timber industry. Such have been
their inroads that really enormous
tracts OF forest have been stripped
The numbering has been done recll-
lessly and wastenllly, without regard
to caring for the young trees. Often
the timbermen have left great
stumps to rot and decay, so that in
and Oregon experts say
that fully a third of the value Of the
woodland thus cut over" has been
About twenty years ago a New
York millionaire went down among
the highlands Of North Carolina. 50
pleased was he with the emery, !
the climate and Other attractions Of /
nature, that here he determined TO J
have his home, and cutting off the .
top of mountain, he built a man
sion, which with the grounds sur
it forms what Is probably |
the most beautiful country seat in
America. Wen, II ought to be, con-
the millions he spent in
laying out boulevards, landscape gar
iens and other yistas. but the story
Of how George Vanderbilt created
Biltmore is too long to be told here,
and is referred to because If he had
not been drawn into the wilderness
his article would probably have ;,
never been written.
The wilderness, the bigness of the
Woodland, fas mated him as it has
other nature lovers. He wanted to
preserve 1t, vet to make it of use,
md to retain its beauty so he be-
gan adding forest after forest to his
estate, until he is now the actual
ord over a domain that comprises
700 square miles of hill and valley,
much Of which Is tree covered. 1t