A PLEA FOR AMERICAN TREES. 



137 



has been at work at the heart, and one cannot, 

 perhaps, count more than half the rings ; 

 measuring will help, in such eases, to give 

 some idea ; by taking fifty rings of the sound 

 part, and allowing the same distance of the 

 decayed portion fur another fifty. But this is 

 by no means a sure way, since the rings vary 

 very much in the same tree, some being so 

 broad that they must have sensibly increased 

 the circuml'erence of the trunk in one year, to 

 the extent, perhaps, of an inch ; while in other 

 parts of the same shaft you will find a dozen 

 circles crowded into that space. In short, it 

 is seldom one has the satisfaction of meeting 

 with a stump in which one may count every 

 ring with perfect accuracy. It is said that 

 some of the pines on the Pacific coast, those 

 of Oregon and California, have numbered nine 

 hundred rings ; these were the noble Lambert 

 pines of that region. Probably very few of 

 our own white pines can show more than half 

 tliat number of circles. 



It is often said, as an excuse for leaving 

 none standing, that these old trees of forest 

 growth will not live after their companions 

 have been felled ; they miss the protection 

 which one gives to another, and, exposed to 

 the winds, soon fall to the ground. As a 

 general rule, this may be true ; but one is 

 inclined to believe that if the experiment of 

 leaving a few more, were frequently tried, it 

 would often prove successful. There is an 

 elm of great size now standing entirely alone 

 in a pretty field of the valley, its girth, its age, 

 and whole appearance declaring it a chieftain 

 of the ancient race — the " Sagamore elm," 

 as it is called — and in spite of complete ex- 

 posure to the winds from all quarters of the 

 heavens, it maintains its place firmly. The 

 trunk measures seventeen feet in circumference 

 and it is thought to be a hundred feet in lieight ; 

 but this is only from the eye, it never having 

 been accui-ately ascertained. Tiie shaft rises 

 perhaps fifty feet without a branch, before it 

 divides, according to the usual growth of old 

 forest trees. Unfortunately, grey branches 

 are beginning to show among its summer fo- 

 liage, and it is to be feared that it will not 

 outlast many winters more ; but if it die to- 

 morrow, we shall have owed a debt of many 

 thanks to the owner of the field, for having 

 left the tree standing so long. 



In these times, the hewers of wood are an 

 unsparing race. The first colonists looked 



Vol. v. 9 



upon a tree as an enemy ; and to judge from 

 appearances, one v/ould think that something 

 of the same spirit prevails among their de- 

 scendants at the present hour. It is not 

 surprising, perhaps, that a man, whose chief 

 object in life is to make money, should turn 

 his timber into bank notes with all jossible 

 speed ; but is is remarkable that any one at all 

 aware of the value of wood, should act so 

 wastefully as most men do in this part of the 

 world. ]\Iature trees, young saplings, and 

 last year's seedlings, are all destroyed at one 

 blow by the axe or by fire ; the spot where 

 they have stood is left, perhaps, for a lifetime 

 without any attempt at cultivation, or any en- 

 deavor to foster new wood. One would think 

 that by this time, when the forest has fallen 

 in all the valleys — when the hills are becoming 

 more bare every day — when timber and fuel 

 are rising in price, and new uses are found 

 for even indifferent woods — some forethought 

 and care in this respect would be natural in 

 people laying claim to common sense The 

 rapid consumption of the large pine timber 

 among us, should be enough to teach a lesson 

 of prudence and economy on this subject. It 

 has been calculated that (30,000 acres of pine 

 woods are cut every year in our own State 

 alone ; at this rate, it is said that in twenty 

 years, or about 1870, these trees will have 

 disappeared from our part of the country ! 

 But unaccountable as it may appear, few 

 American farmers are aware of the full value 

 and importance of wood. They seem to 

 forget the relative value of the forests. It has 

 been reported in the State of New- York, that 

 the produce of tilled lands carried to tide- 

 water by the Erie canal, in one year amounted 

 to 8,1'/ 0,000 dollars' worth of property; that 

 of animals or farm-stock, for the same year, 

 is given at 83,230,000 ; that of the forests, 

 luinbcr, staves, &c., at $4,770,000. Thus 

 the forest yielded more than the stock, and 

 more than half as much as the farm lands ; and 

 when the comj)arative expense of the two is 

 considered, their value will be brought still 

 nearer together. Peltries were not included 

 in this account. Our people seldom remember 

 that the forests, while they provide food and 

 shelter for the wildest savage tribes, make up 

 a large amount of the wealth of the most 

 civilized nations. The first rude devices of 

 the barbarian are shaped in wood, and the 

 cedar of Lebanon ranks with the gold of Ophir 



