Irtstrljatiott at t\t W&Qa^s m)i |artsts. 



HE questions, how long, at the present rate of waste and 

 consumption, will it be before the woods and forests of the 

 United States will have disappeared, and what will be the 

 consequences, seem to us well worthy of attention at the 

 present time. 



Ten years ago, good "hai\i wood" — Beech, Maple, Hick- 

 ory, &c. — sold in the market here for $2.50 to $3 per cord. 

 At the present time, it commands $5 to $6 ; and that, too, 

 while a very large portion of the population is using coal instead of wood for fuel. 

 The stoves now offered for sale throughout the city, are nearly all constructed for coal 

 burning; and were it not for the general prejudice against coal as fuel, among those 

 who have never used it, the use of wood would be totally abandoned. In a very few 

 years it will be so. The wood-market in Rochester was formerly a great feature in 

 its street commerce ; now it is scarcely noticeable. Under these circumstances, the 

 high price wood commands shows most conclusively how scarce it has become. 



So it is with timber for the arts. In ten years the price has advanced at least one- 

 half; and many kinds — such as Oak, AValnut, WhiteAvood, &c. — formerly, and but a 

 short time ago, abundant, are now obtained with difficulty and in limited quantities. 

 Pine lands in the southern part of the State of New York, that less than ten years ago 

 were utterly valueless, are now held about as high as the finest wheat-soil of the Gen- 

 esee valley. And while this increased value of timber has taken place, railroads have 

 penetrated the country in all directions, and opened the way to vast lumber regions 

 that were before inaccessible. The most remote and secluded forests in the State have 

 been invaded by the railroad and the steam sawmill ; and yet prices are advancing 

 rapidly. This afibrds unmistakable evidence that it can not be long before our woods 

 and forests will have totally disappeared. 



Not very long ago, farmers were careful of their wood lot — indeed, it was regarded 

 as the most precious portion of their farm ; now, as a general thing, its value consists 

 chiefly in the dollars and cents it will command in market. The high price of wood 

 for fuel, the increasing value of farming land, and the facility for obtaining coal by 

 means of railroads, are inducing farmers to prosecute the work of clearing vigorously ; 

 and so the country is laid bare at a rate that persons who have not taken some note 

 of these matters can scarcely credit. And if this has been so in the past, what will it 

 be in the future, with a greatly increased population — doubling every twenty or 

 twenty-five years ? 



It is the right and the duty of every man to manage his aff"airs in such a manner as 

 may to him appear the most advantageous ; and he who has had Pine lands in his pos- 

 session for perhaps half a century, without realizing a dollar from them, is but too glad 

 that at last they are available; and so he loses no time in converting them into money 



Fkbruart 1, 1865. b 1 



