FORESTS OF ILLINOIS
Page 21

In general, Illinois is abundantly supplied with timber, and were it equally distributed through the State, there would be no part wanting. The growth of timber within the State is such, and its preservation an object with the inhabitants, that it is estimated that there is from one-fourth to one-third more timber in the State than there was forty years ago. The apparent scarcity of timber through the State, where the prairies predominate, is not an obstacle to settlement, as has been supposed. For many of the purposes to which timber is applied substitutes have been found. The rapidity with which the young growth pushes itself forward, without a single effort on the part of man to accelerate it, and the readiness with which prairies become converted into thickets, and then into a forest of young timber, shows that in another generation timber will not be wanting in any part of Illinois. The growth of the bottom lands consists of black walnut, several species of ash, three varieties of elm, hackberry, sugar maple, soft maple, and the ash-leaved maple or box-elder, honey locust, mulberry, buckeye, sycamore, cottonwood, pecan, and three or four other varieties of the hickory family, numerous varieties of the oak family, among them the cup oak, burr oak, swamp or water oak, white oak, red oak, black oak; of the shrubbery, we note the redbud, pawpaw, dogwood, two varieties, spice bush, hazel, greenbriar, and many others, even the names of which we have been unable to learn. We have now a collection of the native woods of Illinois, numbering ninety-eight varieties, and we have not all. Perhaps no other State in the Union can furnish such a variety of timber, and shrubs, and vines, as Illinois. Along the banks of streams the sycamore, the cottonwood, the elm and the pecan predominate, and attain to an immense size, and are of rapid growth. Uplands are covered with various species of timber, among which are the post oak, white and black oak, of several varieties, and the black jack, a dwarfish gnarled tree, good for little else than firewood, for which purpose it is equal to any we have, of hickory, both the shellbark and the smoothbark, black walnut, white walnut or butternut, American linn or basswood, several varieties of cherry, and many of the species produces on the bottoms. In some parts of this State yellow poplar prevails, principally in the south, interspersed with occasional clumps of beech. Near the Ohio, on low creek bottoms, the deciduous cypress is found. No poplar is found on the eastern borders of the State till near Palestine, while on the opposite shore of the Wabash, in Indiana, poplar and beech predominate. Occasional clumps of stunted cedar are to be seen on the cliffs that overhang the bottoms along the Illinois river north of Peoria; but no pines have come to our knowledge that are natives of Illinois. Timber not only grows more rapidly than in other States, but decays sooner when put into buildings, fences, or is in any way exposed to the weather. It is more porous, and will shrink and expand, as the weather becomes wet or dry, to a greater extent than the slow growing timbers of other States. From the above it will be perceived that Illinois does not labor under the great inconveniences for timber that many have supposed. Our excellent and numerous facilities for transportation assure us that the future will be better provided for than the past. Timber may be artificially produced, with but little trouble or expense, to an indefinite extent. The black locust, a native growth of Ohio and Kentucky, may be raised from the seed with far less trouble than a nursery of apple trees, and as it is of very rapid growth, a lasting timber for fencing, buildings and boats, it must claim the attention of farmers. Already it forms one of the cleanliest and most beautiful shades, and when in bloom presents a rich prospect, and sheds a most delicious fragrance.

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