46 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



FIRST DAY. 



EVENING SESSION. 



At the hour of half past seven, the Society re-assembled. 



A. G. Humphrey was, by vote, invited to read a paper which he had 

 prepared ''upon an important subject connected with the work of this 

 Society." 



He read as follows : 



THE DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS, AND THE NECESSITY OF 

 GOVERNMENT AID IN FOREST CULTURE. 



Much has been said by horticulturists and agriculturists, and much 

 has been written in horticultural and agricultural journals and papers, on 

 the necessity of individual effort in the planting and culture of forest 

 trees. 



The importance of timber belts for the protection of our horticul- 

 tural interests, has been well and thoroughly discussed ; so, also, has the 

 necessity of keeping a proper balance between the cultivated and timber 

 districts, to secure a more equable climate, and the retention of sufficient 

 moisture in the soil. Doubtless these efforts have accomplished something 

 in securing the interest and work of individuals in forest culture. But 

 nothing to compare with the immense destruction of our forests, by 

 which thousands of acres are annually denuded of a luxuriant growth of 

 timber. 



There is a swift-approaching scarcity of timber, growing out of its 

 increasing legitimate uses, and its reckless waste ; and divided effort, 

 however general, can never keep up the supply. Our only hope is, that 

 the General Government and the State Legislatures will give this subject 

 the attention that its magnitude demands. 



It is truly a common-place theme ; but no one can dispute the fact, 

 that in no very distant future, it will become the great economical question 

 of the day. 



We have taken pains to collect some facts, that show very plainly the 

 course we are drifting. Mr. James Little, of Montreal, says that the 

 people of the United States will, within the next ten years, use up all 

 their pine, spruce, and hemlock timber, east of the Rocky mountains. 

 These supplies are chiefly found in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, 

 Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The supply in Maine is nearly 

 gone, and the people are now using spruce as small as six inches in 

 diameter. Pennsylvania uses up 500,000,000 feet of her diminishing 

 stores every year, and her remaining stock will be gone in five years. 

 Northern New York, which has furnished 300,000,000 feet annually, is 

 likely to be appropriated by the State for a public park, when the supply 

 from that source will at once be cut off. The draft upon Michigan last 



