STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 5t 



whether field crops have the same effect as wild verdure. There are a 

 thousand and one questions bearing upon the general question, which 

 ought to be discussed and thought about, and which receive only the 

 slightest attention. A little discussion, I think, will be good ; it will 

 bring the matter more prominently before the people ; it will make them 

 draw comparisons more than they do now. 



I wish to disagree in toto with the views of Mr. Meehan. My respect 

 has always been large for him as a man of intellect, but I do think that 

 article is the weakest one I ever saw from his pen. I thought he had 

 some weak opinions when he first came out on grass culture, but this is 

 far weaker. He has actually picked out a single year and given us the 

 rain-fall. He refers to that year and another, and to them only. What 

 kind of a scientist is he who takes as a basis an individual instance where 

 they vary so much as the rain-fall in different years does? We can say 

 "this season was a damper season than that," and this about all we can 

 say; but if we had the data gathered by naturalists everywhere — from St. 

 Louis, which is under the influence of that great river — from the Atlantic 

 coast, and from the Pacific coast — and over the great plains — for a series 

 of perhaps one hundred years, then we might have some true basis to build 

 upon. But unfortunately we have not that ; we have to trust to our per- 

 sonal experience and observation. 



Now I want to speak on a few points. Suppose a piece of orjginal 

 land, just as it was in a state of nature, with the ground only disturbed by 

 such wild beasts as pass over it occasionally. 



First — The condition of that forest, with the leafy screen overhead, 

 was such that just beneath the heads of the trees was a stratum of air, en- 

 closed and kept quiet. The rapid flowing winds outside could not pass 

 through this forest. 



Secondly, the moisture was longer retained there than on the open 

 land. 



Now, you know, all of you, that during the season of vegetation, 

 our deciduous trees are giving off" moisture at a rapid rate. Tons are 

 being thrown into the air. The air is continually obtaining moisture 

 from these trees, and will any one say that they have not an effect on the 

 atmosphere, in the way of moisture ? 



Under that damp atmosi)here lies what ? The debris from the trees 

 — fallen leaves, particles of shedding bark, etc., undergoing a slow decay. 

 When a drop of water falls there, it is held there as in a sponge, indefi- 

 nitely — soaked out, absorbed, evaporated, or filtered through it. That 

 being the case — the decaying verdure being a layer of sponge to contain 



