12 TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



houses, barns, and other large structures, of stone. They would 

 then be built, as the forests must be planted, for future genera- 

 tions. The best building stones are abundant in almost every 

 part of the State, so much so, that in many places they are 

 heaped together in walls much higher and wider than are ne- 

 cessary for the protection of the fields. If the buildings were 

 formed of stone, they would be a permanent addition to the 

 value of the property, while, on the contrary, the present tran- 

 sient structures are an inheritance to be perpetually repaired 

 and renewed. 



As to ship-building, we have some data. The returns* from 

 the various towns in the State, made in 1837, show that the 

 average annual value of ships built in five years before that 

 time, was 1,370,649 dollars. A great portion of the materials 

 was, and a greater might have been furnished by our forests, 

 if the oaks and pines of our hills had not been most improv- 

 idently wasted by our ancestors. 



The valuable document to which I have referred, shows that 

 in 1837 the annual value of casks and hoops made in the State, 



was, a 202,832 dollars; 



of chairs and cabinet ware, . . . 6 1,262,121 

 " lumber, shingles and staves, . . c 167,778 

 " window blinds, sashes and doors, . (/ 74,166 " 

 <: wooden ware, including boxes, rakes, 



shoe-pegs, yokes, and helves, . e 174,692 " 



it 



making an aggregate of . . . 1,881,589 dollars; 



the materials for almost the whole of which must have come 

 from our forests. In the manufacture of these, a 194 



b 2011 

 c 121 

 d 93 

 e 313 



2712 persons 



* See Statistical Tables exhibiting the condition and products of certain branches 

 of Industry in Massachusetts, for the year ending April 1, 1837, prepared from the 

 Returns of the Assessors, by John P. Bigelow, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 



