5 



repairs. For the construction of 65,000 miles of telegraph 

 lines in the United States, 2,000,000 trees for poles were 

 required, while the annual repairs must call for 250,000 more." 

 A late Agricultural Report of Illinois says : The fences of 

 the United States cost more than any other class of property 

 except real estate and railroads ; the total amount being esti- 

 mated at -eighteen hundred millions of dollars, with an annual 

 expense of ninety-eight millions for repairs." Desirable as 

 may be live hedges, stone walls or ditches, wooden fences are 

 likely to be long used. 



But aside from the need of fencing, and the demands for 

 railway and telegraph companies, there are nearly seventy 

 occupations enumerated in the last United States census 

 which in whole or in part use wood as their raw material 

 for manufacture, employing more than one million of 

 artisans, such as carpenters, cabinet-makers, chair-makers, 

 coach-makers, coopers, boat and ship builders, wheelwrights, 

 manufacturers of brooms, brushes, matches, furniture, agri- 

 cultural implements, machinery and the like. There are 

 63,928 establishments manufacturing articles made entirely 

 of wood, employing 393,387 persons, and using materials 

 worth 1309,921,403 annually. There are, besides, 109,512 

 establishments in which wood is an important material, as for 

 example, in pianos, carriages, bridges and ships, employing 

 700,915 persons, and using materials worth $488,530,844. 

 With these facts before us, there need be no fear of an over- 

 production of wood. It is estimated that in our whole coun- 

 try over three million acres of wood-growing land are cleared 

 annually, and this usually without any proper plans for refor- 

 esting them. Favorably situated as Connecticut is, in the 

 midst of these industries and near the great market centers, 

 and with new calls for exportation, there is sure to be a grow- 

 ing demand for all desirable lumber. 



George Peabody, who did so much to encourage schools and 

 learning, originated the motto, so happily illustrated by his 

 own munificent gifts to promote education : Education — the 

 debt of the present to future generations." We owe it to our 

 children to leave our lands the better for our tillage, and we 



