Franklin B. Hough
Published: 2015-08-05
Total Pages: 656
Get eBook
Excerpt from Report Upon Forestry: Prepared Under the Direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture, in Pursuance of an Act of Congress Approved August 15, 1876 Sir: By the provisions of An act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the government for the year ending June 30, 1877, and for other purposes, approved August 15, 1876, the Commissioner of Agriculture was required to appoint some man of approved attainments, and practically well acquainted with the methods of statistical inquiry, with a view of ascertaining the annual amount of consumption, importation, and exportation of timber and other forest products; the probable supply for future wants; the means best adapted to the preservation and renewal of forests; the influence of forests upon climate; and the measures that have been successfully applied in various countries for the preservation and restoration or planting of forests; and to report upon the same to the Commissioner of Agriculture, to be by him transmitted in a special report to Congress. On the 30th of August, 1876, Hon. Frederick Watts, then Commissioner of Agriculture, appointed Dr. Franklin B. Hough, of Lowville, Lewis County, New York, to the discharge of this important duty. Dr. Hough seems to have diligently prosecuted his investigations and inquiries, not only throughout the United States, but also in foreign lauds, entering into a correspondence with officers of foreign governments connected with the forest management and forestry schools in Europe, where the vital importance of this great interest is well understood, and where for many years an intelligent and settled policy has prevailed, looking to the increase of the woods. The equal and seasonable distribution of the rain-fall, the maintenance of forests upon the higher lands, and the consequent preservation of the regular supply of water to the springs, rivulets, and rivers, and the prevention of the terrible floods which wash bare the unclothed mountain slopes, and by sudden overflows destroy the agriculture and the manufactures of the valleys, are also subjects of anxious observation in this connection. While the information Dr. Hough has acquired from these sources has been extensive and in some cases exhaustive, and while from the European modes much may be learned, the differences that exist between our own and foreign countries in the ownership of lands, make it impracticable to apply for the present, if ever, the systems of administration that prevail elsewhere. Differences exist also in climate, and in the native trees suitable for forest culture; yet there is a very large amount of information collected in the report which is not more valuable for practical use than it is for suggestive thought. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.