TIMBER GROWING FOR PROFIT. 367 



Before going into details as to how to plant, cultivate, and 

 care for timber to make it profitable, there are a few facts which 

 I wish to impress. 1st. The area of timber in the United States 

 is rapidly decreasing, while the consumption is increasing. The 

 value of the annual product of sawed lumber for the ten years 

 included in the last census, 1870 to 1880, was in round num- 

 bers two hundred and thirty-three million dollars. At the pres- 

 ent rate of consumption the supply will not last a generation. 

 2d. Under these circumstances prices must advance, for it is 

 certain that the demand will exceed the supply. 3d. The at- 

 tention of farmers generally has not been called to this subject, 

 and for many years to come there will be but little systematic 

 tree-planting, which insures a large profit to those who first en- 

 gage in it. 4th. Aside from the question of pecuniary profit, 

 there are many incidental advantages connected with timber 

 planting which are worthy of attention. 



Forests temper the heat of summer and break the cold 

 winds of winter, and the history of many wooded countries that 

 have been stripped of their timber shows that drought and 

 floods were greatly increased in severity thereby. The value of 

 shelter belts of timber both for the protection of stock and crops 

 has been shown on the prairies, and when even one-sixth of the 

 land has been devoted to this purpose, it has been found that the 

 remainder produced as much grain as the entire amount without 

 such protection. The humidity of the atmosphere is largely 

 affected by the leaves of growing forests, and while I think the 

 danger of our country becoming rainless by the depletion of its 

 forests has been exaggerated, I am sure that much further reduc- 

 tion of forest would be unfavorable. 



The effect of forests upon the beauty of the landscape is 

 worth taking into account in connection with the question of 

 tree-planting, for there are few sights more lovely than a land- 

 scape dotted with forests, with light and shadow playing upon 

 them, or with the vivid green of midsummer or the brilliant tints 

 of autumn. Much of our steep hill land is liable to wash, and 

 on some soils this can only be prevented by the roots of growing 

 trees. There are hillsides now gullied and seamed so that they 



