Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1878 — OUR FORESTS. [ARTICLE]

OUR FORESTS.

Another Step Looking to the Preset vatlon of the Timber Lands. [From the Baltimore Sun.] The Commissioner of Agriculture has addressed a letter to the President recommending an appropriation of SB,OOO to prosecute during the next year the inquiries into the subject of forestry which were begun last year under the auspices of the department by Dr. Hough, of New York. The Legislative, Executive and Judicial Appropriation bill of April 16, 1876, made provision for the investigation, with a view chiefly to discover the means best adapted to the preservation and renewal of forests, the influences of forests upon climate, etc. Dr. Hough, who was selected by the Commissioner of Agriculture for the purpose, has diligently prosecuted the inquiry, not only in the United States, but has entered into a correspondence with officers of foreign Governments connected with the forest management and forestry schools which abound in Europe, where the vital importance of this great interest is well understood, and where for long years an intelligent and settled policy has prevailed looking to the increase of the woods, the equal seasonable distribution of the rainfall, maintenance of forest upon the higher lands, and the subsequent preservation of the regular supply of water for the springs, rivulets and rivers, and the prevention of the terrible floods which wash bare the unclothed mountain slopes, and by sudden overflows destroy the agriculture and the manufactures of the valleys. Dr. Hough has already compiled statistics of the most valuable character, embracing statements of the exportation of every class of forest products from each port of the United States to each country, from the organization of the Government to the present time. He has also a wealth of matter, historical and instructive, which will be of interest not only to every agriculturist and land-owner, but to every person who has hope for a prosperous future of his country. The question of timber culture and timber preservation, not only on the public, but on private lands of the United States, is one of the most difficult and one of the most interesting problems that can attract our attention. The forest laws of Europe have for us much that is suggestive and instructive, and there are many features of them which it would be to our interest to adopt. Congress should afford every facility for a proper understanding of the subject, and there is no doubt that it will cheerfully make the necessary appropriation to enable Dr. Hough to continue his inquiries. There is no longer any controversy as to the fact that something must be done to arrest the wholesale destruction of timber which is still going on in every part of the United States where there is any timber left.