Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1915-04-08
The University
Weekly Letter
a TREELESS COUNTRY.
BY Roswell w Rogers, Depart
meHt of Education.

We have been considered a
country Of unlimited resources,
but we have arrived al a point
where the exhaustion OF some OF
these important national resour-
ces IS approaching. Andrew
Carnegie estimated that the
known supply of iron will be ah-
solutely exhausted before 1910.
Our coal supply Is limited. and
our soil is declining in fertility.
not only as result Of tiiling, nut
by the sweeping away of fertile
surface by torrentiaI rains. Tho
conservation OF our forests will
help TO regulate the ilow of waste
and will be means OF stopping
this wastage.
The timber now standing on
our national forest reserves, al
though it is still virgin would
hold on; against our rate OF con-
sumption for not more than four
or FIVE years Yet this amount
of timber is worth nearly enough
TO pay the national debt.
Germany has a forest policy
that only what timber has been
produced IN one year may be re-.
moved in the annual cuttings.
The time has come when the
worlds woodlands can 10 longer
supply suffi lent timber for the
wants of great. and ever ia
creasing population In Europe
the demand for wood is conspi-
euously greater than the supply,
even though the forests there
we're originally so great It was
once in Europe as il is in America
today Caesar. described South
Europe az being dense masses OF
wood and but the lamberman
came with. his axe, and the pio-
neer agriculturist WITH his fire.
brand, and their devastation
spread through the country like
plague.
Any one who has reached the
age of 70 years has noticed the
Disappearance of the small brooks
where he played in his district
school days, larger ones have
shrunk TO summer threads, and
rivers that filled their banks al!
year are hardly more than rivu-
lets in summer. This is due to
the denundation of our hills and
valleys of the water holding trees
Water falling on the land is dis
posed of in three ways; evapora-
ton. running off in streams, and
percolating the earth. Then a
serious result is the water supply
and the effect on the soil. East
ern China has been deforested,
the few trees remaining N the
mountains are carried down on
the backs of coolies to the popu-
lar plains below, and are used
for making collins. One board
5 met m sells for two or
three dollars. The result is that
the houses are made OF mud or
brick, good lumber is prohibitive
and in ma ing carts, furniture,
AID everything. the carpenter
must use the softer and cheaper
woods, as poplar aud willow.
There IS no shrubbery ON these
devasta ed hills, no grass, no
springs or wells except at great
depths. When rain falls there
il an immediate flood, for the
water cannot percolate the soil.
and in few hours the dry sandy
coadition reappears. But in the
Western part Of China where de-
sTruetion of forests is still in the
earlier stages. conditions are
quite the opposite. The result is
that THE part of the country is in
great contrast to the larger part,
IN that it is inhabitable and fer
tile.
We must preserve, cultivate
and plant trees because of our
limited lumber supply, and to
prevent erosion of our soil. We
will depend again upon water
supply when cur coal Is near ex-
naustion and 20 get steady and
regular streams our rivers must
continue to drain timber lands.
W. must have more water navl-
cation, and navigabie streams
are dependent on these same
sources. Wells, spings, soil,
timber, fuel, shade, fruit and de-
mand that we immediately rec
ognize and face this great prob
lem. Mississippi's greatest nat
ural resource IS her trees.