160 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



ilitional ixnver in drying the soil by evaporation. This has been fully demon- 

 strated by the long continued experiments of Prof. Ebermeyer, of Bavaria. 



Tliird — The trees are of great value by their agency in the same direction 

 through the action of their leaves, which cause a more copious condensation 

 of the atmospheric humidity than will occur in closely adjacent lands bare of 

 such vegetation. This fact has been abundantly proved by the experiments 

 of the same careful observer, whose results have been confirmed by others. 



Fourth — It has been found, moreover, that the atmosphere within a forest 

 of some extent is always more humid than that of open lands in the same 

 neighborhood. So also the temperature of the forests and of the soil itself is 

 always lower in summer and higher in winter than that of the open lands, 

 cultivated or waste; the climate is rendered more equable. 



Fifth — Another very important matter must be apparent to the most casual 

 observer, to-wit: That the moisture precipitated on forest lands is, in a great 

 measure, retained and allowed to percolate quietly into the loose and mellow 

 soil, and even to reach the subsoil and fissile rocks beneath. Its flow is ob- 

 structed by fallen leaves, twigs, branches and logs, by mosses, roots and herb- 

 age; whereas, the same amount of rain, when falling upon the compact turf 

 of a grassy pasture or upon the bare surface of arable lands, especially when 

 these are firmly trodden, sun-baked or frozen, will at once flow off by every 

 depression, carrying with it the best elements of the soil, suddenly swelling 

 the streams, and eventually cutting the fields into frightful gullies and chasms 

 so as to destroy their usefulness as farm lands. 



Sixth — Most especially is it important to preserve forest growths upon de- 

 clivitous lands, hillsides and river banks, particularly in those regions where 

 our streams take their source. Mountain regions, emphatically those of an 

 Alpine character, should be largely, nay, almost exclusively devoted to for- 

 ests, and these should be sacredly preserved, for in this condition alone can 

 such tracts of country most perfectly fulfill the destiny for which they seem 

 to have been designed by an all-wise Creator. 



The mountains are the sources of the streams which fructify the earth. 

 They intercept the floating clouds, laden with vapor, that is precipitated upon 

 them; when forested, this is retained and furnishes perennial springs, that 

 combine their many contributions to fill the streams which unite to form the 

 world's rivers, and thus, after enriching the earth and turning the busy 

 wheels of manufactures, they open to us channels of commerce of the most 

 A'aluable and economical character. 



If these elevated regions be chiefly covered with trees, they are in the best 

 possible condition to fulfill their admirable function of receivers and reser- 

 voirs of pure and healthful waters, which they slowly, but regularly and faith- 

 fully, give up for our use and for the continued fertility of the earth. 



EFFECTS OF EXPOSING THE JIOUXTAINS. 



But it has been again and again demonstrated that where the cupidity of 

 ■man has ruthlessly destroyed the natural arboreal covering of such regioiis, 



