366 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



served. Close pasturing by cattle and 

 sheep has proved equally destructive in 

 many cases. 



From replies to inquiries directed 

 to the Commissioners of several coun- 

 ties it has been learned that in all but 

 two of the counties the local supply of 

 timber has failed to meet the demand 

 for fence posts, barn-frames, etc., for 

 from five to twenty-five years. Na- 

 turally this depletion is more complete 

 and of longer standing in the southern 

 part of the zone, in the region of ear- 

 lier settlement and more dense popu- 

 lation. The counties reporting an ex- 

 cess of timber and considerable ex- 

 portation are Darke and Williams. 

 Darke County is at present shipping 

 out small quantities of oak. walnut, 

 elm, ash and hickory. A leading deal- 

 er in lumber in that county estimates 

 the total hardwood cut of Darke Coun- 

 ty for 1907 at nearly five million feet. 

 He also estimates the present stump- 

 age of the countv at over one hundred 

 fifty million feet, which the present 

 writer has reason to believe is too high 

 an amount, even including low-grade 

 culls. AS for first-class timber, as that 

 would have been interpreted twenty 

 years ago, there is none of it left. Will- 

 iams County is shipping less, and has 

 probably a smaller supply but it is of 

 somewhat better quality, as it has not 

 been so thoroughly picked over. 



The price of white oak timber on 

 the stump last season was reported as 

 from $20 to $40 per thousand ; the 

 lower prices prevailing in the south- 

 ern part of our range, the higher prices 

 in the north. The explanation of this 

 is to be found in the fact that the rem- 

 nant of merchantable timber in the 

 southern part is of very low grade, 

 and rarely of sufficient quantity to jus- 

 tify the installation of local mills. Of 

 significance in this connection is the 

 fact that a large tight-cooperage fac- 

 tory which had operated for several 

 years in Darke County, was forced 

 sometime ago to close down for lack of 

 suitable material. A hardwood lumber 

 dealer of the same county reports a 

 slight falling ofif in the price of finished 

 hardwood lumber in the last few 



years. This would be a most remark- 

 able state of afifairs, were it not for 

 the fact that the product has declined 

 in quality even more rapidly than 

 prices on first-class materials have ad- 

 vanced. In like manner we may ac- 

 count for the fact that prices of rail- 

 road ties, cord- wood, etc., have ad- 

 vanced less rapidly in this region than 

 the failing supply w^ould seem to war- 

 rant. 



While the general relation of cli- 

 mate to forests is yet a mooted ques- 

 tion, it seems fairly well established 

 that, in the region under consideration, 

 local "blizzards" are more frequent and 

 more severe, while the summer winds 

 are more often dry than they were a 

 generation ago. Spring floods and 

 summer droughts, formerly quite un- 

 known, are growing more common. 

 Many of the hills, denuded of their for- 

 ests and later of their soil, are now 

 quite barren. Throughout the region 

 the growing of fruit orchards is becom- 

 ing constantly more difficult. This is, 

 no doubt, due, in part at least, to the 

 increased exposure of the trees to an 

 ever more fickle climate, as well as to 

 the more persistent attacks of tree- 

 infesting insects, which are deprived at 

 once of their natural enemies. For as 

 a consequence of the destruction of the 

 forests the insectivorous birds have 

 been greatly reduced in numbers. 



The southern four counties in this 

 range have long been noted for their 

 splendid natural water supply. Along 

 every stream valley the ground-water 

 outcrops at frequent intervals from 

 strata of coarse sand and gravel over- 

 lying the limestone. Many of these 

 springs for a hundred years never 

 known to fail, have, since the removal 

 of the back-lying forest, become but 

 "wet-weather springs," absolutely dry 

 in late summer. Over large parts of this 

 area the ground-water level has fallen 

 several feet in the last twenty years, so 

 that wells have had to be dug or drilled 

 to a greater depth to insure a constant 

 water supply. At the same time the 

 problem of drainage is growing more 

 difficult. Small creeks and open ditches, 

 formerlv well filled with water the vear 



