That the great flood of the Ohio, which cost the country more than twenty million dollars, was entirely due to deforestation, I will not assert; but it must have been considerably aggravated by the accumulation of minor local floods, due to the well known reckless clearing of the hill sides, which sent their waters down into the river in torrents. At the season when the winter snows are melting, watch the newspapers, and you will find an almost daily mention of the disastrous ravages of brooks and streams, many of which injuries could have been prevented by avoiding the creation of their distant and indirect cause. Thus we may multiply examples all over the country, showing harmful local influences upon agricultural conditions due to forest devastation.
That the vast stretches of land in the Northwest, from which the white pine has been cut and burned off, present the aspect of a desolation which sickens the heart, you may hear from every one who has seen these deserts unnecessarily wrought by man. Every traveler in this country, be it to the White Mountains, to the Adirondacks, along the Alleghany Mountains, be it through the Rockies or the redwoods of California, cannot but be startled by the desolate, sad aspect of many of these once beautifully clad mountain crests.
And we are a nation hardly a hundred years old, with over thirty acres per capita to spread ourselves upon. What will become of us when we must live upon five acres per head? We are far enough advanced in our recklessness of disregarding the indirect significance of forest areas to have learned a lesson at home, and to feel the necessity of being more careful in the utilization of the forest, so as not to lose its protection for our agricultural and general interests.
The means for its solution I may only briefly indicate. They are education, example, encouragement, legislation. Some of these are of slow effect. Others can be made to give results at once. Let the United States government, which still holds some seventy million acres of the people’s land in forests, mostly on the Western mountains, where its preservation is most urgently needed—let the government set aside these otherwise valueless lands, and manage them as a national forest domain, and then the first effective step, a feasible and not a forcible one, is made. Let the military reservations on the Western treeless plains, which are still in the hands of the general government, be planted to forests and managed as such. This would be no doubtful experiment, would interfere with nobody, would enhance the value of the surrounding country—and education, example, and encouragement are provided, as far as it is in the legitimate province of the general government. And such example, instead of costing anything to the country, can be made self‐sustaining—nay, productive—and would add appreciably to the people’s wealth.—B. E. Fernow.
Mortar containing sugar has been employed in building the new Natural History Museum in Berlin, and has proved far superior to common mortar. It sets almost with the firmness of a good cement, while mortar made with molasses became soft and brittle after a time. In Madras a mortar is used with which either sugar, butter or buttermilk, shellac and eggs are mixed. It holds well and takes a marble‐like polish.
A RESIDENCE FOR $8,000.
The perspective and plans herewith presented are from the designs of Mr. S. W. Whittemore, architect, East Orange, N J. The general dimensions are: Front, 36 feet, exclusive of bay windows; side, 51 feet, exclusive of piazza and laundry. Height of stories: Cellar, 7 feet; first story, 10 feet; second story, 9 feet 6 in.; attic, 8 feet.