590 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



4. The humus in the soil, and the soil itself on the hills and 

 slopes, are washed away by the rains, and carried to the lower 

 lands and to the rivers, a large part being lost altogether. 



Abundant examples from the Old World might be adduced to 

 fortify this position, and to show how numerous and great have 

 been the changes from fertility to barrenness by the neglect to 

 heed the warnings of Nature, But these are so well known to 

 even the unscientific traveler and reader that I forbear. 



Most of us who have lived in America, even a single genera- 

 tion, will recall many facts that warn us how closely we are 

 following the path that has led older countries to ruin. Streams 

 with which we were familiar in childhood have shrunken or dried 

 up. Springs have failed ; the hills are bare and desiccated. How 

 different the aspect of the older settled portions from what they 

 appeared to eyes that beheld them less than a century ago ! How 

 real this description by Bryant : 



" Before these fields were shorn and tilled, 



Full to the brim our rivers flowed ; 

 The melody of waters filled 



The fresh and boundless wood ; 

 And torrents dashed, and rivulets played, 

 And fountains spouted in the shade." 



Now these woodlands no longer echo the song of the poet, and 

 the melody of waters is exchanged for the rush and roar of the 

 torrent. 



Droughts are now the rule rather than the exception. Our 

 pastures dry up and are of little service for several weeks during 

 the year. The more tender fruits can not be successfully grown 

 where abundant crops greeted the days of old. Many of the most 

 hardy trees and shrubs are killed by the depth to which frost 

 penetrates the soil. 



So great and so indiscriminate has been and continues to be 

 the destruction of the protecting woods as to create in the states- 

 man and the philanthropist a well-founded alarm lest our coun- 

 try be soon reduced to the condition of those regions of the Old 

 World to which I have alluded. 



Let us now inquire, What has been done in this country for 

 the protection and preservation of the forests ? In all the chief 

 governments of Europe elaborate systems of forestry have long 

 been established, to the end that the timber should be safe from 

 all unnecessary destruction ; that it shall be allowed to grow in 

 situations where experience has proved its importance in the 

 amelioration of climate and the preservation of the sources of 

 river supplj^, and to secure the timber supply by replanting. In 

 this country the general and State governments have only slowly 



