T1IK \Y< )KK < l THE SPl ULERS 



3< '5 



I hiring the- first hall" of the l;i>t ce-n 

 turv there 1 was a lar^e demand fur tan- 

 hark t<> supplv the needs of tin- i^row- 

 in^ leather industries <>f ( 'incinnati ami 

 the neighboring t>\vns. To meet this 

 demand, the oak timber was ruthlessly 

 slaughtered over an area of >eveiity- 

 tive to one hundred miles radius. The 

 tine logs, then useless, were piled to- 

 gether and hurned. These old-time 



\\ould he better off without a tiinl' t -r- 

 /r,v standing in it!" This is no doubt 

 an extreme case, hut ther< rtainly 



\-ery little sentiment in the re-ion in 

 favor of fore-t |irc-ervati"ii or renewal. 

 The inevitahle re-ult of -uch an atti- 

 tude on the part of the peopk- i- heini, r 

 reached at a rapid rate. < )ver nio-t of 

 the region the first-class liinhiT disaji- 

 peared -e\'eral year- ago, and the 



WASTEFUL METHODS OF LUMBERING 

 Total Clearing of Land is Only Method in Use in Western Ohio 



] '^-rollings, with their attendant harhe- 

 cues, were the festival occasions of tin- 

 frontier communities. 



To the early settlers the-e forest- 

 constituted the arch enemy, to he driv- 

 en hack and destroyed hy ax and fire. 

 Little did these' men think of the value 

 ot the forests. To them it meant only 

 a ti^'ht for ]jt\- and success against the 

 forces and conditions of nature. I'n- 

 fortunately, this instinct for timher de- 

 struction, horn of necessity amon^ tin- 

 pioneers, has <k-veloprd aiiion- their 

 descendants into a blind, unreasoning 

 mania. ( )ne jiromiiu'iit landowner and 

 stockman of Drake- I'ounty recently 

 the view that "the countr 



second- and third-class supp]\ j- rapidly 

 following. 



Immense' damage to the timher "i 

 this region ha- resulted from too c' 

 pasture of tin- woodlands. The writer 

 had an opportunity t> keep under ob- 

 M-r\-ation for -everal years a trad of 

 tine' oak timber in which were kept 

 lar^e numbers of hogs. The' s, ,J1 \vas 

 constantly o\-rrtunied by the ho^x. ;i nd 

 many of tin- -mailer roots of the tr 

 were expo-ol and destroyed. \tter a 

 few years the tree-- be^an to die at tin- 

 tops, and the' owner \\as obliged to ^-\\ 

 the timber for only a fracti'-n of what 

 it would have- been worth at the present 

 time- if il had been more carefully p 



