Daily press. [volume], February 06, 1908, Page 5, Image 5

About Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current

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Forests Supplan
Forests nro creeping back over
abandon* d farms in many parts of
the Bast When wornout fields can
no longer produce ngriculiural crops,
nature tikes them bark and clothes
them wfth trees again to give them
share and ?est, and slowly restoro
fertility to the soli. This Is more in
evidence In tho first fettled parts of
Virginia perhaps than anywhere elso
in the. country for the reason that a
fohger time has passed since thfr
original forests were cleaied away,
and the second growth has had bet?
ter opportunity to take the land.
In Jana s City eonnty. Vs., the first
permanent Kngllsh colony lu the
l'nlted States was established three
hundred years ago, and in that old
county the whole cycle of deformste-'
tic.it and r<-forestnt.ion may be
studied. The threads cf American
history lead back to the beginning
at. Jamestown in 1C07. when not a
forrfrt tree had fallen beneath the
White man's ax.
Agriculture for a long period push?
ed the forests hack and plantations
covered the country: then the forests
e.iine again and crowded igrictilturoj
out. a hundred years before the
Revolution tobacco' plantation* occu?
pied the liest parts of tidewater Vir?
ginia and had pushed up the rivers
fntp the Piedmont region. Continu-'
oiis bodies of cleared laid embraced
thousands of acres.' Nearly every
large plantation had a river frontage
and a wharf, and ships carried the
lohacco directly to Europe) and
brought merchandise hack. Itiwould
1". difficult, perhaps Impossible, to
determine with approximate accuracy
th pro|k> tlon of clear land to the
forests In Tidewater Virginia ; fifty
years before the Revolution.' but
there can be no doubt that (hero was
more cleared land then ihnn \iow.
Written and printed reco ils reliitlng
to the early history cf that region
are fragmentary and bard to find, hut
I he encroach lug forrfds of second
,-rowt.h fit.'nlsb a record the truth
of which none can dispute., |
The census record of the Old Do?
minion is unique.
Vlrelnla had eleven counties" whose
population was snialbr In 1890 than |
when the first Federal census was
taken a century before, In 1790.yXo
other siate approaches this record.
This applies io counties only whbse
population was not. diminished by
cutting off toiritory to 'form Wiow
counties. Each of tho following
f^oia has one such county: MAine,
acHuset's. Marjhnd. North par
ig Plantations
olina. South Carolina and West Vir?
ginia.
Many great Virginia plantations of
colonial tunes have contracted under
the pressure of surrounding fo ests,
giving up Hold after Held to the pine
Beerllngs, until small openings now
mark the sites of former estates, and
all else Is woods?accord growth'or
thl d growth. The early settlers
found a soil of great fertility. They
drew upon It as though It would hist
forever. It. yielded tobacco and com
for generations, and made fortunes
for the planters. Hut the result was
inevitable. The toil wore out. A
few psttches of land are pointed out
in .Tames City county, and also in
nearby districts, which have been
under continuous cultivation for
utarly or quite three hundred years.
Jamestown Island, the site of th?
very earliest settlement, still p:o
duoes corn, hay and peanut.-. Hut
such places are few. The majority
of the oldest, plantations have partly
or wholly gone back to forest.
In traveling through that region
now it Is frequently possible to note
the successive stages of the forest's
advance into the cleared land; In
one place a body of timber may con?
sist, of trees n foot in diameter and
probably seventy feet high. Thelt
even tops and uniform sixe allow that
nil are about the same age, and in?
dicate that, they occupy the site of a
former Held, where seedling took
possession after the plow left off Its
annual tillage. Adjoining such a wood
lot another may often he seen, vvith
smaller and younger trees, suggest?
ing that they occupy the site of a
field abandoned Bit a later date.
Nearby may be seen a still younger
stand. In romo localities, the oven
tops of one woodlot are seen beyond
another, descending like stair steps,
and nnrkinK :lhc silts oT one aban?
doned field beyond anothor.each suc?
ceeding one a ittle later and the
fees a litlo smaller. The desceno
ing series frequently end with a fie e
where young trees ore Just starting
from seeds blown from neighboring
woods. It may mark the site of the
last remnant cf a forme- plantation
which was allower to relapse because
the soll was w ru out.
Tl'<' encroaching forests are mostly
lob-lolly pine. Occasionally othe"
stands ore seen, and hardwoods In
mixture are not Infrequent. Smitll
poplar trees arc cut by pulpwood cui
'trrs many years befo-e the-y mature.
The pines and oaks arc cut. locally
for fuel, and a few smill mlllr. saw
lumber from the larger sizes of the
second growth. The loblolly pine 1?
doubtlos much more in evidence now,
than when 1Jie first forests covered,
the region. It Is an old field tree. It
thrives on poor soil and creeps down
from the sterile ridges and occupies
land which bn been exhausted by
tillage. For that reason It is Impor?
tant to the region- physical geogra?
phy. It. growws where lit 1?? else wll.
shades the ground, checks erosion,
and slowly brings up the Boil's fer?
tility by dropping needles and twigs
which decay.
Few, if any. of the primeval for?
ests remain In tidewater Virginia, but
large trees of second growth exist I
A sycamore more than two nundred I
years old, and known to be of second!
growth, was cut tills year on the site)
of a building burned during Bacon's.
Rebellion lnl670 ami ninny other
trees as large are growing where
tobacco was cultivated two centuries
.ago. Tb^v forest in its hunger to
occupy again Is no respect or of his?
torical places. It is slowly taking
the entrenchments at Yorktowh;
where the British made their last
stand, and the tablet marking the
very spot where General O'Hara sur?
rendered the sword of Oornwnllls
(then an open field) would soon be
Invisible if the ax w"re not frequent?
ly called into life to clear away the
encroaching woods.
I'ntil recently the loblolly pine, was
looked upon as almost worthless for
lumber. The trunk is mostly sap
wood, subject to quick doeay. in
clearing lablolly hind the -wood which
could not be disposed of for fuel,
was usually burned on the ground.
Recently, however, a new value has
been given to tliat neglected timber.
Experiments and tests by the United
States forest service show that, many
neglected woods may bo treated with
creosote and other preservatives, anu
be rendered Immune to decay lor
many years. Ix>blolly pine yields to
the treatment in the most satisfac- <
lory manner. A wide avenue of useful- j
is open to it. The burning loblolly
loglicap will soon be a thing of tho
past. The preservative. treatment,
which in cheap and not difficult,
makes this wood suitable for cross
lies, mine timbers, telephone poles,
piling and many other purposes.
Ru? loess men have quickly seen
possibilities for this old field pine.
A few years ago the grown-up lanu
down on the peninsula l*etween the
York and .lames rivers, an well as
elsewhere In than region, could
scarcely find a buyer ai one or two
dollars an acre. Nobody wanted It.
Today it is held at five, or ten dol-j
lara. The timber gives part of this
Increased value, the land Itself ?iven
the balance. The soil's long rest in
the shade has partly restored ltn for?
tuity, and industrious sottlers from
(he West, the North and from Ku
rope are buying It for homes. The
old plantation*, ?-in bo cloned ngaln,
not ng plantations but as title farms,
and Hie ycle will be complete?from
forest to field, from field to foroBt,
and from forest back to field again.
In view of the threatened timber
famine In this country, the sugRes
tion lias been made that the old
plantations of the Soutn might pro?
perly be permitted to relapse into
woods in natur way. and grow tim?
ber. The wisdom of that policy is
questionable. In the first place, the
land thus growing up is usually well
situated fo- tanning, and Its fortuity
can be restored by artificial means.
It : iiould produce farm crops. Hub
the bulk of the country's timber
ought to grow on rough and steep
land, fit for litle else. Generally,
forests should occupy mountain top?
and steep .lop. ... pasture the more
gentle slopes, and ithe plains nnd vai
leys ought, to be escrved for tho
plow. Put oven if the obi Southern
plantations are :o be given over to
timber growing. It is poor economy
to hnv.O them overrun with inferior
species as at pr.-sont. flood kinds
should be planted?white pine, oak,
ash, poplar and others suited to tho
Hmatc and soil. It Is as easy to
grow good timber as poor, and Im?
mensely more profitable.?Richmond
News-Leader.
PORE OLD LANDWIDGE!
The pore old langwldge has been
swatted again by the -simplified spell?
ing bord. After giving Its l'iografy
and patting itself melaforlcally on the
l ack, the bord announcing that It has
the honor to present for the consid?
eration of men of letters, men of af?
fairs, of science, filologists. educntors
ami so forth. 7," more words that bo
nlted folk like Tennyson, Thackeray,
Dickens and other writers on some?
what Intimate terms with the lang?
wldge. had a vaig impreshun they
knew how to spell with one hand tied
j behind their backs. The 75 are to be
added to the 3ft0 originally recom?
mended by the bord on March 21,
1006. when the bord made Its first as?
sault on the Inoffondlng tang of its
nnscstiirr. As the bord remarks. In Its
own slile: "The persons interested
wore askt. to exam In the list," and
20,000 slued cards indorsed It.
1 Tile list of 75 was submitted to the
limerick reporter nnd he consented to
?end a few of them through his auto?
matic, inspirashunal. slot mashrcn:
A man from far off Wnrchapreag
Attempted to swim twenty leag.
Rut his Urns got so num
He wan pt.it on the bum
And he murmured: "I feel this fu
| teago."
A pnet. somewhat ofeto lyre.
To the hand of a mrid did aspire;
Ue loved her in drutms.
And about her wrct ? reams
Rccause she belonged to the quire.
1 4 ^*^^? ^34?M^-*<Mb****Ml
I Distances Be
Pcajta Arenas, the next point at
?which the fleet of United Hintes na?
val VOaselS Is expected to tone.h, IS,
according to a map Just Issued by the
bureau <if statistics of the department
of commerce ami labor, Just C,r>43
miles from the |>olnt of the fleet's de?
parture, Portress Monroe, and 6,103
miles from tho point of its present
destination, San Francisco. The fleet
when it touches Punta Arenas will
then have accomplished 172 miles
?.aorothan one-half of its Fortress
Monroe-San Francisco Itinerary.
Tills map just issued by the bureau
of statistics. entitled "Principal
Transportation Router, of the World."
shows the chief railway lines and wa?
ter routes of tho entire world, the dis
tainces from |x>rt to port across all
oceans and sen.s, and carries with It
a marginal table showing the distance
from New York. New Orleans, San
Francisco, and Port Townsend to each
of the principal ports of the world,
and from ninny of the other cities ot
the United States to those four Initial
coast ports, thus enabling tho citizen
of all tho principal cities of the coun?
try to determine tho exact distance
from his door or railway station to
the docks of any of the principal j
commercial iiorts of Hie world. The
distances by which thn land and wa-'
tcr routes are stated are supplied by
tho l '.ireau of statlstlce. in the case of
thn water routes by the hydrographic
office of tho navy department, and In,
the case of the land routes from offi?
cial tables prepared by the paymas?
ter-general of the war department,
the distances by water routes being
In nautical miles, and tbo.se by land
routes statuta miles.
The map. together with Its distance
table" sliowr. many interesting fach-.
A mere glance at its lines which
show the principal railways of the
world Indicates, thai they are chiefly
located In the T< niperate Zone. The
total length of the railway lines of
t.ho world Is given In tho document, i
which accompanies the map at ?G7.000 j
miles, though in most cases these,
figures are. for 1005, thus Indicating!
that the world's actual mileage at
the present time approximates COO.
000 miles, of which two-lifths Is
found in the United States.
Another equally observable fact
with reference to the world's rail?
ways Is that, by far the largest part
are found In the Temperate Zones.
Of the practically 000.000 miles of
railway In the world, but about 10
per cent, are found In strictly tropi?
cal territory and no more than 15
per cent, within what'would be term?
ed tropical and subtropical areas.
The greatest length of railway lines
in any tropical country is that, ofj
India (includins Burma). 30,000
miles: while tropical and Mibtropica!!
tween Cities I
i South America haa 15,000 miles, trop
leal and subtropical Africa 14,000
miles, Mexico and Central America
13,000 mllea, tho West Indian Inlands
2,000 miles, tho Dutch and French
pot-session's In tho tropical Orient
about 1000 miles, Slam. 600 miles, the
Philippines about 200 miles, and the
Hawaiian Islands about 100 miles.
Taking tho grand divisions. North
America haa, speaking In round
terms, 2f.0,000 miles of railway, of
which 225,000 are found In the United
States. Bnropo as a whole ho?, still
speaking in round terms, 190,000
mlie<s, or :I5.000 miles less than those
in the United States alone. Asia has
52000 miles, Africa 17,000, and Atta
tralit and the adjacent islands of
Oceania 17.500. The estimated cost
of const ruction of capital cost of prln-i
cli>al railways 1s given 'for Furopo at
J21.000.00n for 170.000 miles for which
statistics are available; and for the
remainder of the world. 117,000,000,
000 for 308,000 miles for which. eta
tis-tlca nro available, the figures with'
reference to the United States being: I
cost, as given by Poor's Manual. $12.-1
000,000,000 (for 213.000 miles for which
figures are avnllable.
Many Interesting facts are disclos?
ed by the distance figures accompany?
ing! the map. One fact, of especial I
interest at the present moment is
that the sailing distance from New
York to Punta Arenas at the south?
ern end of South America, via the
Panama canal. Is 877 miles less than
by tno routo which ships passing be?
tween those two points much now fol?
low. Tho taMes show distances from
our own ports via tho Tetiuantepe?
Railway nnd the Panama Railway or
Canal, as well as via tho Suez cannl
and the Cane of Good Hope and Cape
Horn routes and via the railway lines
across the .Vorth American continent.
Tho distance between New York and
Yokohama Is shown to be via Suez
canal, 13.040 mllcr; via the Panama
1 canal. 10.033 miles; via. tho Tehaunt*
i pee Railway. 0.243 miles; via San
I Francisco (land and water). 7,727
mllis. and via Port Towmsend (land
and water), 7,439 miles. From Ww
York to Shanghai the distance Is giv?
en via Sue-/, 12,300 miles, nnd via
Panama. 10.855 miles. To Hongkong
the distance via Sue/. la 11.C10 miles
and via Panama. 11.410 miles; and
to Manila the distance is shown to
bo 11,550 miles via Sue/ arid 11,540
miles via Panama. From Chicago the
distance to Hongkong Is, via N?rw
York and Suez. 12,522 miles; via San
Francisco, 8.365 miles; via New Or?
leans and Panama, 11.742 miles, and
via Tehauntopeo, 10,229 miles.
From Now York to Saw Francisco
I tho distnnco shown arc by rail across
I tho continent. <.1tl miles; ybx Tie
hauntepec, 4,415 miles; via Panama.
3.305 miles, via Punta Arenas, 13.089
miles, and via Suez and Singapore,
17,672 miles. From Now York lo
Nome, Alaska, the distance via Port
Townsond 1? 6,555 miles; via St>
Francisco, 5,806 miles; via Tohaunff J
pec, 7.130 miles; via Panama, ivi
miles, and via Magellan Strait;,, ft
840 miles, f ho length of route from
Vladivostok, Asiatic Russia, to Now
Orlean? via Magellan Straits, is 17,
445 miles, whllo the distanco from
Vladivostok to New Orleans' via Km
I'Vanclsieo and thenco by rail is but
7,188 mllee. Tho distance around the
world via. the Trans-8lborlan and our
awn transcontinental railway lines Is
shewn to bo 17,007 mlleo, being: from
Now1 York to St. Petorslmrg, 4.63J
miles; from St. Petersburg to Vladi?
vostok, 5,809 miles; from Vladivostok
t/> Port Townaend. 4,357 miles, and
from Port Town send to New Tprlti
3,ir?r> miles. Tho sailing dlstanco
Around the -world from New York via
Suez, Singapore. Manila, Otuim. the
Hawaiian Inlands, and Panama eansi
to New York again would be 23,092
miles; being In detail, from New York
lo Singapore. 10,170 miles; thence to
Manila, 1,386 miles; thenco to Guam.
1.500 imlles; thence to Hawaii. 3,337
miles; thence, to Panama, 4,665, and
thenco to New York, 2,028 miles.
Women and Closets.
' It would bo Just Uko rolling off a
log sideways tto design a house," re?
marked a prominent local architect a
day or two ago, "if we could Just deal
with men. It's ithe women who are
crazy about lots or closet room, who
uihke the architect's Job difficult. Tho
ordinary closet Isn't such nn elnbor
tho affair, it's true, "but whoa
yon get hold of a woman who
wants a < toset in nearly every room
it's mlgaty hard to der.lgn a house for
her Jhat will be a credit to the arohi.
tect. It's the most difficult thing in
ti.ie world, jtomc-tlmes, to allow for
closet space off a room and yet not!
make a room cut tip." ? Cleveland
Plalu Dealer.
Appetites of Woodmen. .
Here nro some figures from a lum?
ber camp up In Greenwood which
} give an Idea as to Iho appetites of
j husky woodsmen; T.hero aro thtrty
j five men In this crew, and the cook
reports "that he makes each day 300
large biscuits, 150 doughnuts, 36 pies,
bakes sis quart of dry beans, with
potatoes, vegetables, etc., In propor
i tlon. A large beef creatwro is eaten
I every five days. There is something
j lo be explained In tliat. item of 83
1 pies daily for 35 im-en. Probably the
boss sets the extra one.?Kenoobeo
! Journal. '
"I am going to play Ifamlot?"
"Good! That's art,"
"For one night only."
"Ah, that's- judgment."-?Loulsv?lo
Conrltr-'Jounral,
......