Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1920 — PAYING FOR WANTON WASTE [ARTICLE]

PAYING FOR WANTON WASTE

Settler* Have Lived to Regret the Ruthless Destruction of Their Black Walnut Trees. Not many years ago the settlers of. the middle West were girdling black walnut trees in order to kill them, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle observes, They were too lazy to cut them down and took this method to destroy the life of the trees, so that they might plant corn and sow grain among the dead and leafless trees. In some localities mills were sawing, the walnut logs into lumber for all purposes, even for boarding, floors and clapboards, inside finish and everything that could be made from It; and many a good walnut board has been split up for kindling. Walnut was then cheap and plentiful. The settlers wanted to land, and no one thought that the timber would become exhausted. Then the forests were full of grand old trees, any one of which would today pay the possessor the purchase price of many acres of land. Today walnut is hard to find and the price is very high, as is illustrated by the fact that a "Maryland farmer recently sold four old walnut stumps for SI,OOO-rJust euch stumps as the farmers worked hard to pull tod burn to get them out of the way. Walnut is not alone in its scarcity, but the many purposes for which walnut could be used made it a wood of great value, and efforts are belßg made to. reforest the denuded lands with black walnut. It is safe to assume that those little trees will be watched with great care until they grow to size, and then others will be set to replace the cuttings. There will be no more ruthless destruction of the forests, whether it be walnut or any other variety of wood. The people have learned a lesson; a costly one, it is true, but one that will never be forgotten. The demands for timber are such that all governments are now protecting the forests, and the time is not far distant when the owners of timber and timber lands will be the men to whom the people will take off their hats, and to whom they Will even get down upon their knees, so to speak, for timber will be king.