To Those Who All Their Lives Have Been Accustomed To
Fields Of Wheat, Oats And Corn The Almost Interminable Rows
Of
beets, beans, sweet potatoes and melons are very interesting.
Proceeding onward through this highly cultivated section by a
somewhat
Circuitous route, there was gradually entered as day
merged into night, a wild, sparsely cultivated region which
contrasted strangely with the orderly acres left behind.
The land here is flat, largely of a swampy nature, covered
mostly with a thick growth of saplings, ferns and bushes. Here
and there were also to be found some trees of fairly good size.
It was in the east but a few miles removed from the great
metropolitan district of New York and Philadelphia. There could
still be found many square miles of unimproved land. It was
surprising also to find excellent highways running throughout
this semi-wilderness, between almost impenetrable walls of
green, which though beautiful, produced a feeling of loneliness
under their weird shadows. Some distance ahead the country
appeared more rolling, the trees higher and the undergrowth less
dense. Vistas opened up, revealing an occasional farmstead.
Suddenly the scene changed for, instead of the emerald hues of
thrifty vegetation, there were seen the brown, seared forms as
of the desert; the charred ruins of buildings, the ashy outlines
of fences and blackened stumps. The reason for this devastation
was soon discovered, as exclamations arose simultaneously from
all sides - "Forest Fire." Upon penetrating the ruined district a
little farther the cause of this widespread destruction was soon
learned. On a large bulletin board by the roadside were
stenciled these words Forty thousand acres of timber, besides
crops, fences and buildings destroyed by fire, started from a
cigarette stub carelessly thrown away. Coupled with expressions
of sincere regret over the country's irreparable loss were heard
strong denunciations of the criminally careless smoker who
caused it. A terrible indictment cumulative in character is
being drawn against the cigarette habit, not only as being
responsible for the sad scene just witnessed, but for the
useless waste of money, the undermining of health, yea even to
the destruction of life itself, for that day was not destined to
close until there had been seen the ghastly ruins of the hotel
in Hoboken where twelve lives were snuffed out by fire started
from a cigarette.
It is not good, however, to dwell for a considerable time in the
valley of the shadow of death, even to adorn a tale or point a
moral, so the journey was continued toward fairer fields and
happier surroundings.
Again highly cultivated areas were entered though much more
rolling in character than upon first entering the state.
Beautiful scenes abounded upon every hand not unlike Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania, which seemed like a vast park under
cultivation. It is significant to note at this juncture that in
respect to value of agricultural products, Lancaster county
ranks first in America; this section of New Jersey second; and
we cannot pass this opportunity of stating that our own Darke
county, Ohio, is third.
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