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REAL  ESTATE  RECO.RD





SAVE OUE FORESTS.
. Is it not time that the National Government
interfered to préserve some of our forests?
One of the most lamentable facts in coimection
with the future of the country is the rapid
cutting down and démolition of aU the wood¬
land east of the Mississippi. Evén the appa¬
rently inexhaustible supply of the Northern
belt of country extending from Maine to Min¬
nesota, is beginning to show signs of giving
out. Unless we annex Canada, the next géné¬
ration of this country wiU suffer extremely
from a want of a scarcity of lumber. The
discovery of anthracite coal seems, almost pro-
vidential, for in addition to the ordinary waste
of wood for buUding and mechanical purposes,
by this time we shotdd hâve had an absolute
famine had wood been needed for cooking and
warming jjurposes besides. In the far West
they hâve begun to pLant trees in that now
treeless countr}--, all of which wiU be of great
benefit to the miUions who are yet to occuiiy
the Western prairies. But the growth of wood
in the West bears no sort of comparison to
the destruction south, east, and north.
This is reaUy a matter to which the atten¬
tion of the scientific societies should be di¬
rected, so that State and National action might
be obtained to préserve such woods as we now
hâve, and to add to their number by judicious
planting. It is, moreover, désirable that a
topographical survey of the country should be
made, with a view to setting apart certain
places in the country as woodland. One of the
bad effects of the cutting down of our forest
trees has been witnessed in the annual freshets
Avhich create such havoc. Of the Connecticut,
Hudson, Delaware, Susquehana, Potomac, and
other Eastern rivers, the forests used to retain
the moisture when the snow melted, and so
*preveuted any sudden accession to the waters
of thèse streams. Freshets were in fact un¬
known before the cutting down of the forests ;
now they are an annual occurrence, and of in¬
creasing destructiveness. Then let the subjecfc
be agitated of settmg apart large tracts of
country for the purpose of growing wood. In¬
deed, many of the wom-out farms in our North¬
ern States could not be utilized for a more
lucrative crop. In the immédiate viciidty, for
instance, of Saratoga are old wom-out farms
Avhich are useless now for the purpose of rais¬
ing crops. but which, if planted, in fifteen years
would raise a most abundant crop of chestnut
and.larch trees. However, this evU vrHl in
time correct itself, as wood is already becom¬
ing so scarce as to make it profitable to dévote
large quantities of land to the spécial purpose
of raising it.





The newspapers aU over the country are dis-
cussing the Chinese problem,    It seems to be
inévitable that we shall hâve a large Chinese
émigration. It is quite idle to say anything about
the undesirabUity of this population, for come
, they will.    Labor is very cheap in China, and
is very dear in America ; this the Chinese hâve
found out, and they are preparing to emigrate
in rayriads.    A great many f oolish laws wiU be j
passed to discourage them, but a fleet stationed |
before every port in the Pacific would not avaU j
to keep them out or prevent them from effecting I
a landing.    Now what is to be done? ^i^ajai





universaUy admitted that the Chinese consti-
tute a most undesirable addition to a popula¬
tion. True, they are patient, hard-vrorking,
ingemous, and supply aU we need of cheap
labor ; but then they are heathens, of an in¬
ferior race, practice vices which are nameless,
and almost unknown even in the lowest strata
of our population, and it seems in every sensé
a real misf ortune that they should form a part
of the great nation Ave hâve founded hère.
There is one solution of the difficulty which
has not yet been thought of, and Avhich we
very much fear avUI scarcely commend itself
to the mass of our popxUation when proposed ;
and that is, the propriety of interdicting the
propagation of the Chinese upon our own soU ;
in other words, allowing only Chinese men to
come hère, and prohibiting them from inter-
mingling with the population ; or if Chinese
women must come, to compel both sexes to ob¬
serve those practices which are the custom in
the Oneida communityl Those who are curious
and désire a knowledge of what those practices
are, would do weU to-address J. H. Noyés,
Oneida, New York.





It is to the discrédit of the people of West¬
ern Jersey that they hâve not taken efficient
means to redeem what are known as the New¬
ark Flats. This vast marsh ought to be ex¬
tremely valuable land for buUding and garden
purposes, where it now breeds nothing but
mosquitoes and fevers, and is utterly useless
for any manufacturing, fanning, or buUdihg
uses. Some time since Mr, S, N. Pike organ¬
ized a company to redeêm a large portion of
this Bwamp, and dykes were buUt for mUes
along the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, Tor
some reason or other the attempt has not suc¬
ceeded, due, doubtless, to the want of proper
engineering skilL A wise thing to do would
be to organize a company foi: the purpose
of bringing over several thousand Hol-
landers, who are weU acquainted with dyking,
and who could eventually be useftU iu founding
gardons on the ground thus redeemed, The
accessibiUty of this property to New York
ought to make it of immense value and im¬
portance to those who woiUd do much to rid
aU Western Jersey of the plague of that beau¬
tiful région, the mosquito.





VALUATION OF CITY PROPERTY.
The follo'«Tng is the relative value of the
real aud personal estate in the city and county
of New York as assessed for 1868 and 1869 : -

Asse.ssinent           Assess-r.ent   ~

Eeal Estato       forlSlS.                for 1809.

§623,236,555     $684,140,768
Increase in one year.............$152,843,813,

Of this amount of increase nearly $43,000,000
is in five wards ofthe city, to Avit : the Twelfth,
Eighteenth. Nineteenth, Twenty-first, and
Twenty-second, and upwards of tAventy-five
mUUons is in the TAvelfth and Twenty-second
Avards alone. The largest increase of any one
Avard is that of the Twelfth, the valuation of
which has been raised $14,505,860.

The foUoAving is the assessment of taxable
Personal property in this city and county for
the present year :

Résidents.......................$175,990,396

Non-residents......-............    29,422,299

Shareholders of bànks,____.....    74J547,184

,    ^otaL^^.^^^,..'..__....... $279,059,829





La 1868 the vâliiation of personal estate was :

Résidents........'......(.......$177,860,146

Non-residents ,'.::...-...,■:-......    31,841,607

Shareholders of banks...........    75,998,019

Total....................§285,199,772

This shows a decrease in the value of per¬
sonal estate of $5,239,943.

The total valuation of real and personal
estate for 1868 was $908,436,327, The total
valuation for this year is $964,100,597,

The total increase is, therefore, $55,664,270.

So soon as the roUs hâve been examined and
confirmed by the Board of Supervisors, the rate   ^
of taxation for the present year wUl be deter- ^
mined.





BUILDING OPERATIONS.
Mr, James McGregor, Superintendent of
BuUdings,  reports as to new buildings from
January 1 to July 1, 1869, as foUoAvs :

Plans and spécifications for noAv buUdings
submitted, examined, and passed upon, from
January 1 tov Jidy 1 were 727. Of thèse 531
Avere approved, Jieing in conformity Avith the
laAv ; 121 were not fiUly in accordance Avith re¬
quirements, but, being subsequently conected,
AA'ere approved ; 75 indefimtely draAvn, or con¬
taining provisions in violation of the law, Avere
rejected. The number of buUdings proposed
to be erected is 1,289, and are classified as
follows :

First-class dAveUings.............452

- Second-class dAvellings.......,..". .250

Third-class dweUings.. '......... .283

First-class stores..............-.'.,. 68

Second-class stores..............-14

Third-olass stores............■..'.' 23 .

Factories......................■". ' 90

Schools..........:.......:...•. .•   5

Stables...-...'..........:..[..:... 72

Churches...................... 13 ' '

PubUc buUdings........'.........19

Total.....................1,289

SAGINAW LUMBER FIELDS.'
A CORRESPONDENT of the Chicago Tribune^
Arating from SaginaAV, gives the foUoAvdng ac¬
count of the state of affairs in that région :

•' ïhe river from East Saginaw to Bangor, a
distance of about fifteen miles, is thickly stud¬
ded Avith himbei mills, some of Avhich haA'e
docking facUities for 5.000,000 to 8,000,000.
When there are full stocks on hand, there is
lumber enough to buUd up towois and cities re-
quisite to constitvite a respectable State, and
fence them aU in. There is, of course, an im¬
mense amount of capital invested, and -the
condition and prospects of the trade are at all
times a matter of great concem. The early
part of the past Avinter Avas unfavorable for
logging, and, as is commonly the case under
such ch-cumstance.s, unusual exertions Avere put
forth to secure log.s, the resuit of Avhich Avas
rather a larger stock than usual, oAving to the
protracted sleighing throughout the latter part
of the season, but the increase is not great
enough to affect the market. The stock of
choice lumber is proportionately smaU, and the
prices for that quality avUI be much more like¬
ly to advance than to recède. The amounts of
logs got out on the Tittabawassee, according to
the estimate of the Boom Company—always
accepted as good authority—is 250,000,000 feet,
which is pretty Avell secured. not over 10,000,-
000 feet being behind or "hung up." The
amount laSt year Avas 228,871,300. The
amount on Cass river is knoAvn to be 68,000,000
feet, against 88,740.000 last year. ïhe stock
this season is all secured, and avUI be doAvn in
about three Aveeks. Bad river has about 20,-
000,000, against 15,700.000 last year Rifle
river, on "the Bay," has got 150,000,000, of
Avhich 25,000,000 are being hungup beyond aU
hopes of securing this season. ïhe amount
last year Avas 48,000,000. ïhe River Au Grès
has 45,000,000 cut, of which 20,000,000 are
hung up. ïhe amount last year was 18,800,-
000. ïhe logs from Rifle and Au Grès rivers
include all from the bay that are towed to the