Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1922-08-17
TEACH BOYS TO
PLANT TREES
ADVICE OF HARRISON W.
EWING, BROTHER OF
LATE nj. C. EWING

When Harrison w. Ewing, brother
of the late NJ. G. Ewing of this city,
was in Merrill the other day, the re-
porter of the Merrill Herald had an
| interesting interview with him, which
The Pilot takes the liberty of reprint
! ing:
I'VE are teaching our boy scouts
how to chop down a tree but we are
making mistake-we should teach
them how to plant tree" said Har-
rison w. Ewing, brother of George p.
Ewing, of this city, and who attended
the funeral of his late brother, Mark
c. Ewing, at Wausau, Monday after
noon. Mr.. Ewing spent Saturday in
Lincoln county and was taken to the
Prairie river dells by his brother. Mr..
Ewing is chairman of the Northern
Ohio Fish & Game association and
has devoted life study to trees, re-
forestration, hunting and fishing AT
ter few hours visit in the city, he
knew the location of many of the
city's specimen trees and everywhere
took notice Of the wild life, either nat
ural or as restored by man.
The state of Ohio, he said, had de-
nuded itself of nearly all its timber
and where settlers of the earlier days
had preciously preserved tract of
timber, purchasers of S0-acre farm
tracts nearly always have chosen the
timber as the easiest method of pay
ing for the farm, denuding all of its
forest products and taking no pains to
reforest. "Ohio today" he said, "has
only few clusters of evergreen trees
consisting of few hemlocks, a little
tamarack which escaped the land
clearer owing to its location in
swamps, some juniper and some white
cedar. Then recall that at one time
in the vicinity of the ridge where the
great Henry farms are located, the
greatest single maple forest in the
country once fiourished. Specimens
of the naples were left by the own
efs of these farms along the highway
passing through this memorable sec
ton. Here was the natural home OF
Tsong birds, the best place to find
foxes and other game in practically all
Ohio The famous maple syrup of
Captain Henry's days was product
OF this ridge, each tree yielding half
a gallon of the finest tasting maple
syrup ever manufactured.
| "All this would have given way to
mere clearings had 1t not been for the
efforts of the game and fish associa-
tions of the state who in conjunction
with the sreforestry department in edu-
tcating the farmer, who is naturally in
La hostile situation to the hunter. We
now have majority Of the owners
of this land ready to deed it to the
state as a game sanctuary. The area
is very beautiful and its preservation
as a game sanctuary will mean much
to the future life Of Ohio.'
Mr.. Ewing expressed the view that
Wisconsin leads Ohio in preserving
forest tracts, reforestration, in game
and fish regulation, and in excellent
roads. Wisconsin has shown herself
to be far in advance of the actual
needs of the times and l have been
particularly interested in seeing nor
thern Wisconsin referred to in my
state as the playground of the central
west" said Mr.. Ewing. He was well
pleased to see Merrill gifted with so
many parks and so many beautiful
shade trees. He said that Cleveland
was once known as a Forest when
the city welened its streets, the tree
llhSS WtIc utStfOytu anu never re-
placed. The development of electrical
transmission lines has destroyed trees
through lightning, while sewer con-
nection has drained the ground and
robbed trees Of necessary moisture.
1t is particularly significant that
both the late M. c. Ewing and his
brother, Harrison w. Ewing, should
have been deeply interested in con-
servation. Their grandfather killed the
last deer in their section of the state
years before either of them were
born, but on the other hand their faith
er after cutting down the merchant
aole timber from thirty acres OF a
sixty-acre tract, allowed the young
timber on this portion to again grow
up, and today the timber is good sec
ond growth size. Mr.. Ewing says that
had proper methods been pursued To
encourage the young timber to grow
up on this acreage, that even larger
timber would today be the resuN
Mr. Ewing in referring to the Mer-
rill system of parks, said that Cleve-
land is to today buying up large area
around it's city limits for a park
boulevard and the tendency through
out Cleveland today is to plant finer
specimens Of trees. The maple is Mr.
Ewing's particular choice of tree, as
1t comes in so great a variety and its
leaves are most beautifully colored in
fall. In size it ranges from the small
Japanese dwarfs to gigantic Norway
naples. But everywhere where Mr..
Ewing has visited, hunted or spent a
portion of his time, he has found spec
linen trees, not only of maple, but of
many other species.
He was especially impressed with
the natural beauty of Wisconsin, even
in its present partly denuded form,
and believed that Wisconsin by pre-
serving what 1t still has Of primi-
tive beauty can remain the most beau
tiful state in the union.
Mr.. Ewing bears a marked resem-
blance to his late brother He prac-
law ~