The consumpticn of the forei:;ts in supplying our rail- 

 roads with ties is enormous and increasing with the rapid ex- 

 tension of the roads. It i^ estimated that the "building of 

 existing: roads has taken the available timher frcm an area a,s 

 large as the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut, and fat 

 to keep them in repair hy replacing decayed ties wit2'_ new ones 

 requires annually the yield of more than 500,000 .acres. 



In 1P53 the forest area of Ohio 'vas 55,2^7 par cent 

 of th-3 area of the State. In 1881 it was but 22.53 per cent, 

 A similar rupio consumption of the forests has taken plac-. in 

 other States. In many cases the flow of streams has "been les- 

 sened or n-^de irregular hy the removiil of the forests from 

 their vicinity. Floods and drou hts have "become more frequent 

 and destructive from the Some cause, and agriculture a-"id manu- 

 factures have suffered greatly in ccnseqvience , The consump- 

 tion of the forests so far exceeds their grov/th that, if no 

 effective measures are ta'cen to chec"' the decline, the f crests 

 wou^d entirely disappear v/ithin a hundred years. -'he great 

 pine forests o-f^ t'-^e ^crth^vest //ill hc-^rdly last till the close 

 of the present century, 



I v/ill only allude to the more complicated and some- 

 times disputed influences which the forests oxert upon the 

 agricultural a-nd hydrological conditions of its surroundings. 

 Your a-cquaintance v/ith the history o-f older nations and the oh* 

 servations recorded on this co'^.tinent will convince you that 

 this is at least a su"bject which requires serious oittention. 



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