TRANSACTIONS OF HORTICULTURAL SOflETY OF NORTHERN ILL. 



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larity in the flow and discharge of our navigable rivers, and eventuilly in the relegation 

 of our fertile fields to barrenness and desolation. * * * What has been may again 

 and will again recur. The most fertile regions of the old world, when subjected to 

 similar treatment, have reached this sad result. Under the intliction of such ill-treatment 

 and abuse of God's gifts it is but a question of time when the sad but inevitable results 

 must follow, and our now fertile plains be reduced to deserts. 



The traveler, Champollion, when speaking of the great desert of Sahara, in North- 

 ern Africa, where he had traced the source of former rivers and streams, and had found 

 stumps of trees covered by several feet of sand, makes the following remark: "And so 

 the astounding truth dawns upon us that this desert may once have been a region of 

 groves and fountains and the abode of happy millions." * * * He asks, "Is there 

 any crime against nature which draws down a more terrible curse than that of stripping 

 Mother Earth of her sylvan covering ? The hand of man has produced this desert, and, 

 I believe, every other desert on the surface of the earth. Earth was Eden once, and 

 our misery is the punishment for our sins against the world of plants. The burning sun 

 of the desert is the angel with the flaming sword who stands between us and Paradise.'' 



The countries bordering on the Mediterranean, on all its sides, were once well 

 wooded, fertile, fruitful regions, sustaining a dense population. With the centuries 

 came the undue destruction of the forests, and the consequent loss of fertility, followed 

 by diminished population. Look at the famous regions to the eastward, Palestine, the 

 land of groves, the land that flowed with milk and honey; see the adjoining regions, 

 now marked by the mighty ruins of Palmyra and the cities of the plain. Beyond these, 

 see the broad fields of Persia, whence Alexander drew his mighty armies, and observe 

 the once fertile valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates, where stood the luxurious Baby- 

 lon, the Great, but Fallen ; all these once populous regions are now deserted, and 

 literally become the habitation of bats and owls, in fulfillment of prophecy, clearly 

 traceable to the destruction of the forests 1 



Even in our own favored land, here in this new world, these scars upon the face 

 of nature already begin to appear, and in some places on the Atlantic border tracts of 

 farming land are already turned out us unproductive wastes. 



Yes ! verily, my friends, it is indeed lime that we were thoroughly aroused to the 

 importance of this matter of the conservation of our forests. We should plant shade 

 trees and groves, shelter-belts and woods; yes, and where suitable conditions exist, we 

 should also plant extensive forests for the sake of their future prospective, but certain 

 benefit to ourselves, and to those who are to come after us. Why will we not learn 

 from the experiences of past ages, which is everywhere expressed so plainly in the 

 history of nations, and itnpressed so manifestly in the desert scars of the earth ? 



Let us take warning betimes and begin now, and at once undertake the preservation 

 of our forests. 



Forests are the conservators of moisture, the sources of the streams. The Tree is 

 father to the rain, was a favorite saying of Mahomet. 



Then, again, we must remember that time is needed for the production of a tree. 

 The botanists call them perennial plants, because they continue their existence through 

 the years. Vegetables of this class do not build up their massy structures, composed of 

 concentric layers of solid fiber-cells, with the rapidity of the fungi, some of which will 

 evolve millions of their cells in a few hours, visibly enlarging while we behold. 



Nor can the trees be compared in their periods of growth, and the quickness of 

 their cash returns, with the familiar tillage crops of the agriculturist. The weeks and 

 months needed for the production and perfecting of garden and farm crops are repre- 

 sented by the decades and centuries of years required for clothing the denuded surface 

 with forest growths of mature and useful size. It is, therefore, high time to begin the 

 work. 



Be not discouraged, however. Trees grow fast enough. One of the classic 

 writers of the age, who fully appreciated trees, put his own sentiments into the mouth 

 of one of his rustic characters when he wrote, " Be aye sticking in a tree, Jock, it will 

 be growing the whiles ye are sleeping." * 



Those of us who are now past middle life, no doubt many of you now present, can 

 point to noble trees which have grown within your own recollection; some of them 



