Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1883 — British Forests. [ARTICLE]

British Forests.

The forests of the United States have been so mercilessly stripped of trees that a wood famine is almost inevitable in a few years. The lumbermen have been allowed to do practically as they pieased, and they have pleased to reap always and sow never. But an end is coming to that reckless method of procedure,'‘and the lumbermen themselves are beginning to see that “something” must be done. “That something can, of course, only be planting on a large scale. Happily, there is little fear of similar dearth in Great Britain; none, at any rate, until the greater landlords are reformed out of existence. For almost the sole reason that England and Scotland are so thickly wooded is the perseverance of the landed class in tree-planting. One family alone, that of the Dukes of Athole, has in a hundred years planted scores of millions of trees. The “planter Duke,” who commenced operations in 1774, planted 27,000,000 trees, covering 15,000 acres, principally upon the Dunkeld hills and in their neighborhood. The present Duke of Athole plants from 600,000 to 1,000,000 trees every year. The terrible storm which destroyed the Tay bridge blew down 80,000 of the Duke’s trees, but the loss was hardly noticeable.— St. James’ Gazette.