DESTEUCTIOX OF FORESTS. 141 



forests to the condition, or some approach to the condition, 

 in which they were when this country was first settled? The 

 whole of New England, the whole of Canada, all the Middle 

 States, almost the whole slope towards the Atlantic, was 

 covered, when our ancestors first came here, with great forests, 

 — most of them the most magnificent forests in the whole 

 world. Those forests have been gradually disappearing ever 

 since ; and it is known — it is as certain as any fact can be — 

 that in fifteen years from this time, unless something is done 

 to restore the forests, all the large forests in New England, 

 all the forests in the British dominions on this continent, all 

 the forests in America, will be cut down. Great pains have 

 been taken to ascertain the amount of wood of every kind that 

 is cut down and carried off every year ; and a year ago, when 

 I was in Washington, I said there was no sort of doubt that, 

 in twelve years and a half, at the rate that the forests have 

 been cut down for a great many years past, they would be 

 all gone. I say now, gentlemen, that in eleven or twelve 

 years, unless something can be done to retard that destruc- 

 tion, all the forests will be gone. 



Now, gentlemen, I say that every one of you can do some- 

 thing to retard this ruin. No person in this country has the 

 sole charge of the forests ; but every man who has a farm has 

 the charge, or may have the charge, of some portion of the 

 forests. Every man, certainly every farmer, may do some- 

 thing to restore the forests. Why should the farmer do what 

 belongs to the whole country ? Why should he do anything 

 to restore the forests on his own domain? I say, first, to 

 make it more beautiful, more healthy and more pleasant ; next, 

 to make it more valuable. How can any man do anything to 

 make the forest in his little domain more valuable? What 

 can he do to make his home more pleasant ? I do not know 

 w^hat any person living in the country can do better than to 

 surround his home with the most beautiful trees. Gentle- 

 men, we have the most beautiful trees in the world. I went 

 to Europe three or four years ago for the purpose of studying 

 the forests there, and to see what was doing, and I found 

 that there are more valuable trees in the forests of Massachu- 

 setts, growing naturally, — I said so a great many years ago, 

 and I found by inspection that it was true, — than in any part 



