Influence of Forests on Health. 161 



that the perennial and gently flowing rivulet has, at frequent intervals, be- 

 come the uncontrollable mountain torrent, which, in its rapid course to the 

 lower levels, bears everything before it. It first takes away the accumulated 

 soil, produced by ages of decay, from the action of the elements upon the 

 rocks, and mingled with the moldering remains of vegetation, long since 

 gathered from the atmosjihere by nature's chemistry. Then the rocks them- 

 selves yield to the impetuous current, the mountain sides are scored and 

 gashed, rent into frightful fissures and canyons, that are filled for a few hours 

 in every storm with a turbid stream laden with the debris which floods the 

 fertile valleys. This spreads ruin among the villages, destroying bridges, 

 roads, houses, cattle and even human beings, while at the same timie the once 

 fertile plains and intervales are covered with obnoxious debris and rendered 

 ^mfit for culture. So terribly have certain portions of Europe suflfered from 

 this cause, even in enlightened States, that it has become necessary to meet 

 the evil by government interference, requiring the reforestation of large 

 tracts of such mountains. Already we may see the happy effects of the re- 

 boisement of Alpine heights in many of the provinces of France and other 

 countries. The same terrible results are in prospect as a consequence of the 

 ruthless destruction of the timber in the mountain regions of our own West- 

 ern terri^tories. 



SHELTER BELTS. 



Even the richest arable lands of our country are found to be .very gener- 

 ally enhanced in productiveness by judicious i)lanting of forest trees, arranged 

 iis shelter belts. These break the force of the blasts which sweep over any 

 •great extent of open country that lies in broad plateaux, unbroken by any 

 considerable line of elevation. This effect is equally marked in summer, 

 the season of growth, as in the period of wintry storms. 



This sheltering influence of trees is well understood by the Chinese, 

 with their dense population, and* where every rood must maintain its man, 

 for while the whole surface is cultivated with sedulous care, ve are told by 

 intelligent travelers that the lines of trees scattered here and there give the 

 impression at some distance that you are in a wooded country. 



A somewhat similar appearance is presented in the highly cultivated and 

 <lensely populous regions of portions of Holland and some other countries, 

 where these wind-breaks have been planted, and are fully appreciated for 

 the shelter they afford. 



But we need not look abroad for illustrations of the great value of such 

 i:)lantations. In portions of our own prairie regions there are many intelli- 

 gent cultivators who have learned the value of such shelter-belts around 

 their farms. Judge C. Whiting, of Monona county, Iowa, asserts that since 

 he has planted and grown such barriers against the winds, he has realized 

 more profit from the crop-^ produced upon the remaining four-fifths of his 

 land than formerly, when it was open prairie, he was able to harvest from the 

 whole farm in the same kind of crops. 

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