Illinois hortk i'lt i'ral soctETV. 21? 



ing calainitj' of a total exhaustion ol lumber, and of limber to supply 

 more. Ancient Egypt had to wage a war of C(jnquest on Syria for tim- 

 ber when her own territory failed to supply the demand. But where is 

 the timbered Syria for us to conquer when ours is gone? If we had 

 British America, and the supply there was unlimited, the freight alone 

 would more than equal jiresent prices. 



Currents of air and currents of water are subject in many particu- 

 lars to the same law. V\'e see in a flowing river that the lower portion 

 of the current is retarded by friction, and moves more slowly than tlie 

 surface, especially where the bed of the stream is covered thickly with 

 rocks and boulders. So in currents of air, ever}' tree, whether small or 

 large, jjresents an obstacle to the wind, and diminisiie.s the velocity in 

 proportion to tiie obstruction. If belts of trees eight rods wide, every half 

 mile, extended all over our country, in a few years it would so diminish 

 the velocity of the winds that countless blessings, advantages, and com- 

 forts would flow therefrom. Yet these belts would onl}' require eight 

 acres to every one hundred and sixty. 



There are probably three hundred thousand square miles of terri- 

 tory in the Mississippi Valley that will soon be covered by population. 

 Allowing each square mile to have six miles of fence, requiring over 

 sixty thousand feet of boards and three thousand eight hundred forty 

 posts, and allowing the fence to last fifteen years, it will require four 

 thousand feel of boards and two hundred and fifty-six posts per year for 

 each mile. The average lake, river, and railroad freights would be at 

 least eight dollars per thousand, and two cents each for posts, making 

 a sum of thirty-seven dollars per year freight on fence material for each 

 section of land. It is safe to say that there is four times this amount 

 used for other purposes, so that it is fair to conclude that we pay one 

 hundred eighty-five dollars freight on lumber each year for every square 

 mile of territory, or fifty-five million five hundred thousand dollars freight 

 on lumber alone in l,he Mississippi Valley. If Congress were to build 

 railroads to the lumber regions, and deliver lumber to us free of charge 

 for transportation, we would have to help fool the bill by our share of 

 taxes, but who would not be rejoiced to find a plan by which these fifty- 

 five millions of dollars a year could be saved in a few western states, 

 that we now pay chiefly to railroad companies? But there is just such 

 a plan within our reach. 



The earth and the sun, with their exhaustless and incomputable for- 

 ces, are at all time'* ready and willing to bring to our very doors all the tim- 

 ber we shall want for lumber and fuel for thousands of years. They 

 say, " Only plant the seeds and we will grow you the timber at your 

 homes, where it is needed, as easily as we do in the distant forests, tliat 

 you now have to raft down your rivers, or transport over your lakes, or 

 rattle thousands of miles over your railroads. We shall not disappoint 

 you. \Ve never spend our forces in vain. We follow Nature's law; or, 

 rather, we are a part of great Nature herself. We are constant workers. 

 We spend no time idly. We do not even rest on the Sabbath day. But 



