SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 219 



Onr fathers little rlreanied that the time would ever come when 

 those (listriots. once the i)ri(le of American forests, would become 

 barren districts unproductive of wood or of value for farming pur- 

 poses. The destructive process has been carried on so long and so 

 extensively that such is the case in many of the Eastern and some 

 of the Middle and iSoutheastern States, and soon will be along our 

 northern border. Had there been a timely cheek on the destruction 

 of our forests by individuals holding it as woodland, or if possible 

 by National and State Government ])urchase. so as to have prf""- 

 served large areas of our best early forests, the remainder being 

 devoted to farming interests, districts now deserted and liarren would 

 be thickly settled, and the inhabitants enjoying all necessary re- 

 sources of wealth. 



From the nature of our government we cannot expect very great 

 aid from Congress nor from State Legislatures; so the great work 

 must be mainly accom])lished by the agriculturalist. If this subject 

 could be thoroughly discussed among the people, and ]n-esejited to 

 the consideration of every farmer in the nation, their general intel- 

 ligence is such that they would readily see its pressing importance, 

 and immediately liegin to devote a ])ortion of their land to forest 

 culture. The individual of to-day might not reap immediate good 

 results, but he would know that he was laying a broad and sure 

 foundation for the happiness, })rosperity and wealth of his children. 



There is another question which demands the farmer's atten- 

 tion, the importance of which he cannot fail to see, and that is the 

 present urgent demand for forest products. If tifty thousand acres 

 of the best Wisconsin timber are cut annually to supply the Kansas 

 and Nel)raska market alone, and if a hundred and fifty thousand 

 acres are cut in the United States annually to supply the demand for 

 railway sleepers alone, and thousands of acres more to supply other 

 wood indu.sti'ies, we shall soon suffer a wood famine, unless millions 

 of acres are soon planted to forests, if indeed we do not at the same 

 time suffer the calamity of an agricultural famine. 



This subject, so closely allied to all the material interests of the 

 country, should demand the imme<liate attention of both the State 

 and National Governments. Many of the eastern nations have, 

 through legislative enactments, given especial attention to forest 

 culture, and there are also important internatiojial efforts to secure 

 the necessar}' forest clothing of the earth. 



The ('ongress of the United States should imniediatt'ly establish 

 a forest commission to co-oijerate with a similai- commission from 

 every State in the Union. The work of such commission should be 

 to inquir«' i)ito all subjects connected with forestry; as the relation 

 of agriculture to forestry, the effect of fin'est on climate in the ])r()- 

 duction of annual rainfall, and the general distribution of moisture: 

 the national demand for forest products to supply the wood indus- 

 tries of the country, and how best secure general ti'ee planting all 

 through the country. 



