EFFECT OF FORESTS ON A COUNTRY. 15 
forest were cut, the timber logged and burned on the 
ground, so that the land could be farmed. The annual 
decrease of forests by logging and burning is still, I am 
told, some eight hundred thousand acres per year. And 
while we are thus destroying our timber by every pos- 
sible means, and taking no adequate steps for replacing 
it, the demand for lumber is increasing at the rate of 
twenty-five per cent. per annum. I cannot say what is 
just the annual decrease of our forests, but it cannot be 
less than eight million acres per annum, while as yet we 
do not plant more than a tenth of that amount in new 
timber, outside of Nebraska. 
That we have shamefully and wantonly destroyed our 
forests no right- thinking man will deny. We cannot 
undo the past, but we may still provide for the future 
if we set to work with diligence and sense, and earnest- 
ly persevere. What, then, should be done? Let every 
man remember when he fells a big tree he is doing some- 
thing which he cannot undo, and destroying that which 
in his lifetime he cannot replace, and let him cut down 
just as few trees as possible. Farmers should plant hedges 
around their fields, and avoid cutting down timber for 
rails or fencing of any kind. Division fences between 
farms ought always to be made of hedges. Strong herd- 
laws should be passed in the states and territories, and 
stock not be allowed to run at large, thus doing away 
with the necessity of so many fences. Millions of dead 
capital in the states might thus be utilized and brought 
into use for other purposes. States should make liberal 
appropriations, and foster and encourage in every way 
the replanting of forests. Nebraska has admirable herd 
and forestry laws, and may be taken as a model in this 
respect by her sister states. Congress should enact 
strong laws for the protection of timber on the public 
domain, or turn it over to the states and territories. If 
placed under the War Department it would be protect- 
ed. , Overseers of roads should be made to plant trees 
