Price. ] 210 [Nov. 16 & Dec. 7, 
mittee of the House on Public Lands, Dr. Hough, on March 10th, 1874, 
submitted to Washington Townsend, Chairman of that Committee, his 
views at length on the subject of the Memorial. These were printed by 
order of the House, in a Report of 118 pages. It is a full, yet compact 
statement of many facts and statistics, which abundantly sustain the con- 
clusions herein expressed. There followed in October 1875, the Report of 
the Commissioner of Agriculture for that year, a division under the head 
‘Statistics of Forestry,’’ from p. 244 to 358, giving the forest area of 
every county in every State in the Union, in number of acres, and the 
percentage of the whole number in the County and State, with other valu- 
able information. It is very important in its promise of future reports, and 
also from the fact that will be the basis of contrast, to show the progress of 
reforesting the country. An Act of Congress of August 15th, 1876, gives 
earnest that Congress will guard this great national interest, especially as 
it made an appropriation for the compensation of a competent commis- 
sioner to investigate and report upon the preservation of the forests, and 
the exportation of timber and other products of the forests. I have an an- 
swer to my inquiry, from Dr. Hough, the Commissioner, saying that he is 
at Washington to print his report in that of the Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture ; that he has tried to do justice to Michaux and others ; thinks the 
facts he has collected opportune, and that the interest in forestry is grow- 
ing. The President’s Message to Congress of this month earnestly recom- 
mends legislation to protect the timber belonging to the Government, and 
the preservation of the forests of our country. 
The proposition before us invokes physical causes for physical effects. 
Yet are these very interesting to our mind and feelings. They concern 
deeply human life and happiness. The mind must plan and execute the 
work ; must appreciate the beneficent results, and not without gratified 
emotions in view of the good to come. The purposed means will seek to 
influence the elements ; in a measure to rule the powers of the air; to draw 
rains from the clouds ; to detain the waters in the earth to flush the springs 
and swell the streams; will both drain the marshes, and cause wells and 
fountains to flow in the desert ; cause the grasses and cereals to cover the 
fields, and the forests and woods and trees to grow on mountains, hills and 
plains. Yet all this, is not to speak or act presumptuously, for it is but 
to use the powers placed at man’s disposal. It is to do more extensively 
what has been done; what is therefore practicable. Man is to engineer, 
to plow and plant, and sow and water, but God must give the increase. 
Man is to obey the first command, ‘‘ Replenish the earth and subdue it.”’ 
Obedient to this we have the promise, ‘‘I will give you rain in due sea- 
son, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall 
yield their fruit.”’ 
That the evils reviewed have been terribly aggravated during many 
centuries, should not discourage us. The full remedy may require as many 
centuries as the cause has been operative ; but every step of repair is bene- 
ficent progress. The world is now fuller of resources than ever before. 
Man’s enginery is gigantic; his machinery is imbued with intelligence. 
