THE RECONSTRUCTION OF OUR FORESTS 



America last, if the terrible havoc now annually made on them is not in some 

 way provided for? This can only be accomplished by planting. We Americans 

 inquire of ourselves in regard to most undertakings, "Will they pay?" and 

 " Will the pay come soon?" The answers to these questions, for the most part, 

 determine our actions. This is especially true as applied to the masses ; for here 

 and there we find persons willing to labor and wait for the reward. This is espe- 

 cially true in application to horticulturists and florists. 



In my former letter I spoke of the good the steam-engine was capable of accom- 

 plishing for agriculturists and horticulturists. Your article called attention to 

 two builders of portable engines, one in Delaware, the other in Ohio. I find on 

 inquiry at the Ohio establishment, that a very large majority of the engines con- 

 structed are used for saw-mill purposes — in other words, for the destruction of 

 the forests. They pay better is the secret, and so they send out large numbers, 

 annually, on their double mission of life and death; life to buildings and improve- 

 ments, death to the forests. 



These pedestrian lumber-cutters appear so insignificant in locomotion, or after 

 locating in the forests, that, without evidence, we could scarcely give them credit 

 for the terrific energy they possess in converting trees into useful and necessary 

 forms of lumber. One pedestrian mill will make three io Jive times as much lumber 

 as any ordinary water-power or stationary steam saw-mill. Almost an acre a day 

 of average forest or timber is required to keep one steadily at work. Yet they 

 are only one of the many agencies at work in destroying our forests. Each year 

 these combined agencies seem to gather new strength for the next, and the secret 

 is, they pay. Let your readers, kind Horticulturist, make, each for himself, a 

 rough estimate of the surface of our primal forests, each year stripped to feed the 

 pedestrian and local saw-mills; the thousands of steam-engines propelling railway 

 trains and steamers on our rivers, where coal is not to be had ; and all the other 

 demands for rails, shingles, fuel, cross-ties, &c. &e., and I think we shall all be of 

 one mind in regard to our duty to take immediate measures to compensate for 

 this energetic destruction. But the loss of the forest brings some secondary re- 

 sults which must not be overlooked, for their importance holds first rank. I allude 

 to the influence on climate and the cereal crops of our country. It is of no use to 

 stave off the consideration of these topics, they must be met, and we of this gene- 

 ratron may as well commence to build up, as well as destroy our forests. It must 

 and will have its day of " small things." It must have a starting point, and you, 

 dear Horticulturist must lend a helping hand. 



Planting trees — trees that are natives — trees that are valuable for fuel alone, as 

 well as valuable for fruits and esthetic purposes, loillpay, and pay well. But you, 

 kind reader, who do the planting, may not get the pay, but those who come after 

 you certainly will realize it. Benefits, varied and valuable, almost fabulous in 

 number and kind, will flow to those who come after you, and take your places in 

 this busy world. Money you may get more speedily by cutting down, than plant- 

 ing and cultivating trees during their earlier years. But your money cannot 

 compensate for the absence of trees on our soil. Money has its uses, but it is not 

 omnipotent. It cannot create a forest to furnish wood for utility and beauty ; 

 the price of this is time, and toil, and waiting. 



Soon the fetters which now hold our soil and watercourses in close embrace 

 will be unclasped by the advancing sun. The tender herb, the beautiful flower, 

 as well as the humble grass, and nobler trees, will again spring into new life. The 

 earth will again be clothed in her magnificent vegetable garniture, gladdening 

 the eye and rejoicing the hearts of us all ; while, at the same time, this terribl 

 of destruction to the forest will go on with redoubled energy. 



