1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



151 



poses. Prof. Collier, of our State University, 

 finds it, too, one of the most valuable timbers 

 for turning uses. It is a hard, close, compact- 

 grained wood. It is indigenous to this region, 

 growing in great abundance in the Missouri 

 River bottoms, and along the smaller streams. 

 It is being planted largely on our open prairies, 

 and does well ; we regard it as valuable in all re- 

 spects. 



OUR FORESTS. 



BY JOSEPH KEMP, HOLLIDAYSBURG, PA. 



Much has been said in Agricultural Societies 

 in reference to the rapid cutting away of the 

 full-grown trees in the forests. Some action has 

 also been taken in the legislature to stimulate 

 tree planting, and a very curious plan has been \ 

 reported by a committee, that seems to look 

 only to the planting of shade trees along the i 

 road, to be paid for at the expense of good roads, j 



I have for about fifty years past, been watch- j 

 ing the result of extensive chopping of entire | 

 forests for charcoal for iron works, and noted \ 

 well the volume of water in the streams along 

 the foot of these wooded regions, then and now i 

 — I mean before each of the choppings 4&6. 

 afterwards, and to the present time — and have 

 arrived at the following conclusions, which I | 

 give you with some hesitancy, knowing that so j 

 many intelligent gentlemen have deprecated 

 the destruction of timber on its supposed unfa- 

 vorable effect upon rainfall and moisture gene- 

 rally. 



In the first place, the very diminutive acreage 

 cleared and brought into cultivation can have 

 no appreciable effect, if any at all, it had, it is far 

 more than compensated by the products of that 

 soil so subdued and made to yield food for man. 



Then*, secondly, we look into the forest moun- 

 tain timber land, from whence the lumber of 

 commerce comes. But a small percentage of 

 trees are fit for the lumberman's use at any one 

 chopping or going over. All the young, crook- 

 ed, or any way defective are left, and the quite 

 young are far more thrifty and rapid in growth 

 for having more room, sunshine, and air. Thus 

 in a score of years quite as many trees may 

 again be ready, having attained marketable size. 



And now for a question of rainfall and keep- 

 ing up mountain streams. I contend that where 

 all the old trees are chopped away, the sprouts 

 from the stumps, and young trees springing up 



at once, soon shade the ground more effectually 

 than when old trees smothered out all such 

 growth. Then again, we know that warm air 

 moving up from damp earth is the parent of 

 rain ; but the tall trees intercept the sun's rays 

 high up, leaving the earth cooler than if its rays 

 rested on bushes, or came nearer to the earth. 

 Hence I account for the increased flow of water 

 from the springs and mountain rills coming out 

 of the thick undergrowth or young timber in the 

 old choppings. 



So much for the dreaded diminution of rain. 

 I really do think it is advantageous to the wood- 

 ed region and contiguous country to have all the 

 old timber cut down. I do know that if you de- 

 sire to perpetuate a chestnut forest you must 

 chop it off clean every twenty-five years. If you 

 do so, on every stump from five to eight healthj- 

 vigorous chestnut trees spring up, making the 

 best of rail timber. If you do not so chop them 

 away, the old tree dies at the top, the heart rots, 

 and the forest perishes and is succeeded by 

 worthless pin oaks, black oaks, etc. White and 

 yellow pines also come up rapidly wherever 

 the older trees no longer overshadow them, and 

 absorb the carbonic acid gas absolutely essential 

 to all tree growth. I am far from thinking that 

 in thirty or forty years there will be no pine 

 timber for man's use. Iron works that began 

 to chop away timber fifty or sixty years back, 

 and chopped over the land a second time have 

 now more timber, healthier and sounder, than 

 they began with in the virgin forest wherever 

 the forest fires were kept out. 



And herein lies the great evil. Young timber 

 standing quite thick produces a vast coat of 

 leaves. These leaves drop to the ground ; the 

 i wind cannot blow them awa5^ Mahy places 

 ten to twelve inches of a compact coat of leaves 

 are secured on the ground and in process of 

 forming valuable mould, in time enriching the 

 land. All this is gained by cutting away the old 

 forest and stimulating a thicket of young timber. 

 Some of it must die — always will — when it gets 

 a little behind its compeers in the race upward. 

 i^ow this vast array of leaves makes the whole 

 forest a vast tinder box, and when fires in the 

 \ fall, or worse, in the early spring, on a windy 

 day are started it makes fearful havoc, killing 

 all the young tender sorts, such as chestnut, 

 maple, pine, white oak, etc., and indeed almost 

 everything perishes. Great uneasiness is always 

 felt by owners of such timber lands on windy 

 days in the spring before the leaves are out. 



