Destruction Of Forests

The rapidity with which this countr; is being stripped of its foreste mus alarm every thinking man. It has been estirnated by good authority that, if we go on at the j resent rate, the snpply o timber in the United SSfcates will, in less Miau twenty years, fall considerably short of ourhome necessities. How disastrously the deutruction of foresta of a country afl'ecte the rogularity of the water snpply in its rivers necessary for navigation, increases tiie frequency of freshets and inundations, dries up springs, and trnnsforms fertile agricultural districts into barren wastes, is a matter of universal experience the woiid over. It is the highest time that we shoiild turn o;ir earnest attentiou to this subject, which so serionsly concerns our national prosperity. The Government cannot prevent the cutting of timber on land owned by private citizens. It is only to be hoped private owners will grow more careful of their timber as it risos in value. But the Government can do two things: 1. It can take dctermincd, and, as I think, effectual measures to arrest the stcaling of timber from public lauds on a large scale, which is always attended with the most reckless waste; and, 2. I can preserve the foresta still in its pos session by Keeping them under its con trol, and by so regulatiug the cntting and sale of timber on its lands as to se cure the rencwal of the forest by natura growtli and the careful preservation o the young timber. - Annual Report of the Sccrctary of the Interior.