BRECKINRIDGE, OHIO, AND HANCOCK COUNTIES. 9 
than their best acre of land, they would take more pains to 
encourage the growth of a timber which is becoming so scarce 
in our country, and for which there is such great demand. I 
believe, with a little extra care, such as trimming out and 
killing other fast-growing timbers of little or no value, taking 
moderate pains to secure, in such localities as best suited the 
walnut, a good undergrowth of it, etc., that a considerable 
forest of this valuable timber might be secured and kept in 
Kentucky. 
Next to the walnut in value, and fully as scarce, is the black 
‘cherry. The wood is so valuable in cabinet work, for the 
reason that it is very compact, close-grained, and receives a 
high polish. In a few years, at the present rate of destruc- 
‘tion, it will have disappeared from our Kentucky forests. 
The great forest timber of Western Kentucky is the white 
oak, which probably forms forty or fifty per cent. of the entire 
forest trees, or nearly as much as all other species together. 
Its timber is so valuable in the making of wagons, agricul- 
tural implements, and all other articles where a tough, dura- 
ble, nicely-grained wood is required, and one which warps but 
Jittle in seasoning, that no special mention of its claims is 
necessary. But the very abundance of white oak in the Ken- 
tucky forests to-day obscures the extermination to which it is 
liable, and which is fast approaching. J took particular pains 
to notice the conditions of growth of the white oak, and I 
find that, while at present it forms the large per cent. of 
the forest timbers given above, in the undergrowth, which 
is to be the future forest of Kentucky, it falls from 40 or 50 
per cent. to about 8 per cent., while its place is taken by such 
valueless timbers as the pin oak, black oak, Spanish oak, and 
black hickory. This proves that the latter timbers are of 
more rapid and hardy growth than the white oak, and that, in 
a contest for supremacy, the white oak will finally be exter- 
‘minated. The extinction of our white oak would be nothing 
‘ess than a calamity—one which should be avoided if possible. 
The white walnut is found in considerable quantities, as sec- 
-ond growth, all through Western Kentucky near the Ohio 
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