COMMUNICATIONS. 365 



for light and ventilation, and viewing the various scenery in 

 every direction. For these reasons this plan is approved by the 

 intelligent housewife and man of taste whenever understood. 

 At all events, it is worthy the thought of those who are about 

 to build new farm buildings, whether dwellings, barns, or other 

 out-buildings. 



Iq this connection it is deemed appropriate to make some suo-- 

 gestions in regard to the absence of forests from our prairies, and 

 the generally supposed destitution of building- materials in 

 the same sections. But upon careful observation we find that 

 nature is far more equal in the distribution of the common wants 

 and blessings of agricultural life than we are apt to admit with- 

 out a liberal investigation; she rarely withholds a supply of 

 one important necessary, without bestowing abundance of some 

 others as substitutes. These reflections are suggested by view- 

 ing our broad, rich prairies, so entirely destitute of timber, with 

 a soil of surpassing fertility and a most healthful atmosphere, 

 capable of handsomely sustaining an immense population ; this, 

 at first thought, seems to be an unlucky oversight in Providence. 

 Bat of the equivalents to these timberless regions, which 

 invest them with advantages even abov^e the heavy timbered re- 

 o-ions, I will here mention some of the more important ones, 

 which are not adequately realized except by persons who have 

 lived in both situations, 



Pirst — the prairies are already smooth and clear, ready for 

 tbe work of the plow, the seed drill, the reaper and mower, the 

 horse rake, and other good labor saving machines, while the ex- 

 pense and labor of clearing forest lands, fit for even the common 

 plow, would much more than pay tor fencing the prairies ; and 

 then many years of vexatious labor among stumps must be en- 

 dured before the former can be worked with half the pleasure 

 of the latter; while it is easier to raise groves of small timber on 

 the prairies than to griib out the forests. And compensation for 

 the absence of building timber, exists in the almost universal 

 " gravel mounds," " pebble hills," and " lime quarries " which 

 are found on nearly every section of land throughout the prai- 

 rie region, indeed, there is scarcely a farm but possesses some of 



