Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/183

 From Youth to Age as an American. 165 in regard to the prominence of unsightly crags in view wher- ever the traveler went. Dr. Johnson used a sharp pen in noting the neglect of tree-planting. This doubtless induced Sir Walter Scott to introduce tree-planting between the laird and his son in his "Heart of Midlothian"— "When ye hae naething else to do, Jock, ye can aye be steekin ' in a tree, Jock ; it'll be growin', Jock, while ye 're sleepin'." It is common belief that Burns' poem, "Bruar Water," turned the Duke of Argyle to a timber-planting fad, which increased the re- turns from his lands. It is my settled belief that a spirit of civic pride can be raised in the United States that will induce every owner of 100 acres of land to maintain at least ten acres producing timber. There ought not to be a single quar- ter-section of forest land sold by the United States Govern- ment henceforth, except under a guarantee that 20 per cent of it shall be maintained for producing timber. Where a homestead is on land already best fitted for agriculture, the patent might leave it optionary about planting timber on that portion already clear of timber, but if we are half as near a timber famine as some are saying who ought to know, it is time to hold timber out of market until it will sell at prices commensurate with other crops; and this involves a relation of proportion between wheat land and wood land that has not yet been considered in the United States. If it is desired to prevent a wood famine, make the care of forest land credita- ble as a pursuit; let the forest farmer have at least his home market; stop Government agents from selling either trees or ties in competition with private citizens. That is the sure way of hastening a timber famine, because the man or men whose investments are in timbered land or whose income is from harvesting timber or from the manufacture of lumber, cannot long compete with Mr. Pinchot, with one hundred and fifty-five millions of acres of forest reserves to sell from. And to sell timber is not to reserve it. I allude to this, first, because I have been for ten years in seeming accord with Mr. Pinchot as to the necessity of care of forest growth and of harvesting it without waste and to