24 



sands blown over the country preventing cultivation ; snow will accumulate 

 in great drifts in some places, while other places are left bare and unprotect- 

 ed; the ground become frozen to great depth; vegetation retarded in the 

 spring; the productiveness of the ^oil diminished; thunder-storms will be 

 increased in number and violence ; and there will be more hail and more 

 heavy, damaging rains. 



Under these changes of climate and productiveness, the people being de- 

 prived of so many of the means of comfortable living, will revert to a condi; 

 tion of barbarism 1 



While we are holding o.ut inducements for thfi oppressjed of all the earth 

 to make new homes in our midst we are planting the seeds of decay, that will 

 sooner or later render their homes miserable, and send these people and their 

 posterity to other, raoro favored lands, for that home they will have failed to 

 find here. 



Of the consequences of the destruction of the forests to the future inhabi- 

 tants of the state we can only judge from the experience of other countries 

 where selfishness, folly and want of proper appreciation of the wants of the 

 future, have already brought upon them the evils that may soon be looked for 

 here. Consult the history of Egypt, of Palestine, of Greece, of Italy, and 

 we shall see that the original fertility and productiveness of a country may 

 be destroyed ; a country capable of sustainiBg a dense population of happy, 

 prosperous and civilized people, may be converted into one of comparative 

 sterility wjiere the scanty population living in tents, or rude huts, are but 

 little above the lowest of the human family. Such may be oar future unless 

 we profit by their example. 



GENERAL CONSUMPTION OF WOOD. 



What substitutes for wood can be found in this State to supply its place, 

 and thus diminish the demand, as well as the necessity for its consumption, is 

 another important question for consideration. The geological age of the rock 

 formations is such as to preclude the hope of ever finding coal in Wisconsin ; 

 and pea;t, though an important item, that may hereafter be much used for fuel, 

 can never supply the place of wood to any considerable extent. The cheap- 

 ened proeesaes for the manufauture of iron has induced the substitution of 

 that material for wood in many important cases, but so much wood is con- 

 sumed in its production that this is scarcely an advantage. The same may be 

 said of brick as a material for building. Stone may be .substituted for wood 

 in building houses, fences, making pavements, &o., with the greatest advant- 

 age. Our numerous stone-quarries afford excellent building material, in any 

 desired quantity ; and as the unsettled portions of the State become more 

 fully explored and developed, there is no doubt Xjut that these quarries will be 

 increased in number and in value. Granite, and even marble may, some day, 

 become important items of consumption and export from Wisconsin. 



It is quite certain that no substitute can be found to supply the demand fbp 



