1SS2.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



^49 



earth witli a vegetable mould of cousiderable 

 deplli. 



A UNIVERSAL JUNE OK WEALTH. 



This mould, possessing all the elements of 

 fertility, was an immense treasure, everywhere 

 abouiiiliug, and tempting the settler to clear 

 away the trees and reap tlie benetitof the vir- 

 gin soil. When trees were enl down, a crop, 

 which had probably required several hundred 

 years to grow, was reaped in a few weeks or 

 years, thereby leaving the earth bare, and the 

 vegetable mould was used up in a few years 

 by continued cropping in wheat, corn and po- 

 tatoes. The writer knew an excellent bush 

 lot which produced great crops at lirsl to l)e 

 reduced in less than ten years to mere rocks 

 and stones. And this process of exhausting 

 the vegetable soil went on everywhere as fast 

 as settlonients advanced. Of course where 

 the subsoil was good and was turned up in 

 part to mix with the vegetable mould, fertility 

 continued much longer, but. In course of time, 

 all, except prairie, lands, were reduced so 

 much in fertility as to require the application 

 of fertilizers at great expense. Had the soil 

 at first re(iuired these fertilizers the progress 

 of settlement would bave been exceedingly 

 slow or more probably there would have been 

 no progress at all. 



War Against Trees and Its Effects. 



The labor of cutting down great trees, cut- 

 ting them into short logs and piling them up 

 in log heaps to burn, was, however, so great, 

 that a feeling of dislike to trees as the settler's 

 natural enemy became general, and the ven- 

 geance against them was so great that in ex- 

 tensive regions the laud was completely bared, 

 and rendered thus not only unsightly but un- 

 sheltered. Bleak winds had full play and 

 droughts parched the earth. What was even 

 worse, the clearing away of trees on the hills 

 and mountains by the settlers, the lumbermeu 

 and forest fires, left the snow of winter exposed 

 to the siiring sun ; and the sudden melting 

 and runuiugoff of this accumulation of frozen 

 water made dangerous floods in the streams 

 in early summer and left those streams nearly 

 dry in the hot season. 



Calling a Halt. 



At length the evil results of the indiscrimi- 

 nate cutting down of trees began to be per- 

 ceived. The improvidence of previous gene- 

 rations was lamented, and eflbrts to conserve 

 what forests were left and to plant trees, grad- 

 ually became popular. The first class of efforts 

 was directed to preserving a few acres of the 

 original forest in each farm where that still 

 could be done, and merely thinning the trees 

 for firewood, fencing, &c., thus leaving the 

 smaller trees room to grow more rai)idly. 

 The grove thus preserved became one of the 

 most necessary and valuable portions of the 

 farm, and that without any labor of plowing, 

 .sowing or cultivating. It also aflbrded a de- 

 lightful shade in hot weather for man and 

 beast. 



Forests in the Territories. 



The preservation of the vast forests in the 

 Territories belonging to the nation attracted 

 attention also, and laws were enacted to pro- 

 tect them from wanton waste. Secretary of 

 the Interior Schurz distinguished himself for 

 endeavoring to enforce these laws, which are 

 very difficult of execution on account of the op- 



portunities lumbermen have in an almost un- 

 inhabited region for cutting trees on Goveru- 

 ment land, and the frequency of forest fires 

 kindled by careless Indians, hunters, trappers 

 and lumbermen settlers. These fires often do 

 more damagi; to forests in a few days than 

 lumbermen could do in as many years, and 

 how to prevent them is yet au unsolved 



problem. 



Forestry Laws. 



The only remedy, and that only a partial 

 one, that can be suggested, for the wanton 

 destruction of forests, is a national system of 

 forestry laws somewhat similar to those of 

 France, Germany, Austria, Norway and other 

 European countries, which prohibit, under 

 severe penalties, the injury or destruction of 

 trees by unauthorized persons ; and also the 

 kindling of fires, or even 'smoking in the 

 woods. A forest police was created to see to 

 the execution of these laws, and at the same 

 time providing for the utilizing of forests by 

 gradual thiiniing out and selling the largest 

 trees, so as to leave more room for the smaller 

 ones. In this way the public forests are an 

 annual source of revenu.;, and after centuries 

 of such management they are in as good con- 

 dition as they were at first. 



Judicious Thinning. 

 In passing through Plattsburgh, N. Y., 

 once the writer saw the Saranac thickly cov- 

 ered with sawed lumber, and he asked an old 

 gentleman if that river was not yet lumbered 

 out. The reply was, "I have known it for 60 

 years, and the quantity of lumber coming 

 down has been pretty much the same all the 

 time. There is as much now as there was (50 

 years ago." This shows the result of a judi- 

 cious fystem of thinning forests. 



A Commissioner of Woods and Forest. 



If the United States, and each State had a 

 department of woods and forests, with a suit- 

 able head and the necessary subordinates, 

 much could be done, not only for the preser- 

 vation of forests belonging to the public, but 

 to persuade settlers to le.ave a suitable portion 

 of their farms in wood, and to counsel from 

 time to time in public documents, not only 

 care in husbanding present forests, but some 

 general system of tree planting by States, cor- 

 porations, and individuals, so as to provide a 

 supply of timber for the future. 

 Tree Planting. 



The second branch of this great subject is 

 tree planting, and here credit must be given 

 to the United States Government for its en- 

 couragement of this necessary work in the 

 prairies. The law giving 100 acres to anyone 

 who wJll plant and maintain for a few years 

 40 acres in trees, has had a great effect al- 

 ready in providing for a future supply of tim- 

 ber in the prairie States ; those groves will 

 also break the terrible prairie "blizzards," 

 and, probably, to some extent, attract rain- 

 clouds to mitigate prairie droughts. A fine 

 spirit of tree-planting has also been manifest- 

 ed in many cities and villages ; and "Arbor 

 Day," or a day sot apart in spring for tree 

 planting, has become, in some parts of the 

 country, an institution for the purpose of 

 beautifying streets and public and private 

 grounds. 



Planting Trees on Public Roadsides. 



The public roads .shoidd be lined on each 

 side with trees, which, when grown, would do 



something toward sheltering and beautifying 

 the country everywhere; but along railroads 

 there should be something more than isolated 

 trees. There should be a rather broad belt on 

 the windy side, thickly planted with the vari- 

 ous kinds of trees needed for repairing the 

 roads. This belt woidd shelter the railway 

 from storms, catch and retain the winter's 

 snows which gives us so nuieh trouble, aud, 

 before many years, supply much useful limber 

 when the supply from other sources might be 

 exhausted. 



Tree Planting on Farms. 

 Every farm should have a belt of timber 

 planted all along its windy side ; this belt, not 

 less than fifty feet wide, should be planted 

 thickly with the various kinds of trees that 

 grow best and fastest in the neighborhood, 

 the thinnings of which for useful purposes 

 would soon be valuable, whilst the shelter it 

 would give from prevailing winds would be 

 invaluable. All swamps not covered with 

 trees should be planted with white and red 

 cedar and tamarac, all of which grow best in 

 damp ground, aud produce most excellent 

 timber for various purposes. The leaves also 

 of these trees would absorb the unwholesome 

 air which swamps generate. 



Stony Ground. 

 There is on many farms more or less of 

 ground so rocky that it will not repay the ex- 

 peu.se of cultivation, and all of such spots 

 should be planted with trees. Tiiese may bo 

 got out of the woods or farm nurseries ; or 

 what would be easier, cheaper and probably 

 much more eUectual, the seeds of various 

 kinds of trees could be sown, imitating as 

 nearly as possible the natural processes which 

 have produced all the forests of the country. 

 The seeds of the different trees should be 

 g.athered in the woods .just at the time that 

 they fall naturally, and they should be imme- 

 diately planted in little shallow holes among 

 the stones and covered with a little earth. 

 There the rains of autumn, the snows of 

 winter, aud the sunshine of spring would 

 bring up quite a crop of young trees, which 

 shoidd be fenced in from cattle and left to 

 them.selves. They would require no labor 

 after the first sawing and fencing except sub- 

 sequent thinning out from year to year of 

 those that were too crowded or most valuable 

 for economic purposes. If hickory nuts, black 

 walnuts, butternuts, chestnuts and the .seeds 

 of sugar maples, pines and spruces were any 

 of them or all of them sown every here and 

 there over the place intended for a grove the 

 most valuable kinds and those that thrive 

 best could be ultimately left to become great 

 trees. After ten years the annual thinnings 

 of this grove for firewood, fencing, hop-poles, 

 railroad ties, etc., would probably make it as 

 valuable a part of the farm as any other, and 

 when the black walnut and butternut trees 

 became large enough to be sold to cabinet- 

 makers the value of the grove would be very 

 great. The present race of farmers may say 

 they would not live to see the trees become 

 fit for the cabinet-makers, but none the less 

 would the growth of that grove increase the 

 value of the farm every year, and that whether 

 the owner sold it or left it to his children. 

 A Forestry Commissioner. 

 What is Very much needed as a preliminary 

 covering of a considerable portion of the 



