STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 55 



have taken place in a hundred years ; yet there is almost as much timber 

 now as there was then. There is almost as much timber made every year 

 as there is used in manufactures, and for all other purposes. I am not at 

 all enthusiastic in this matter, but I have become almost wearied of 

 listening to essays where the same old truths are brought forward at every 

 meeting of this Society, and in the societies of other States. I say that 

 I have become impatient. There is another side to the question, and 

 horticulturists ought to attend to both sides, 



Mr. Flagg — While it is true that this man has made a report which 

 recommends tree planting, yet I would ask whether it is not a fact 

 that, for climatic reasons, the great majority of authorities are strenuous 

 in favor of tree planting ? 



Mr. Rilev — Most assuredly they are in favor of it, but not for 

 climatic reasons. 



A merchant of Carthage, Mississippi, sent me meteorological data 

 from 1833, taken at Natchez, and there is nothing in them to show that 

 during that time there was any particular change, and while these records 

 show that we have had some excessive droughts, there is nothing to show 

 that it is exceptional, when taken by the record. You can remember the 

 floods of 1844, I think, and when Mr. Greene speaks of the Mississippi 

 overflowing, I would say that our records do not extend far enough back. 



Mr, Wier — I feel something like Mr. Riley — that we should have 

 both sides of the question. I have listened to all tliat has been written 

 and said on this subject, in our Society, for a number of years, and have 

 been waiting to hear some one hit the nail right on the head, and I do 

 not think they have done it yet. 



Mr. Flagg — There is your chance, [Laughter.] 



Mr. Wier — I know this country is drier than it was thirty years ago. 

 Our creeks rise a great deal faster and fall a great deal faster, and the 

 water runs off the country everywhere faster than it did. It is not because 

 the country has been denuded of forests, and it is not because it has been 

 plowed up. That has nothing to do with the question. I know of thou- 

 sands of acres on the Illinois river bottom where, thirty years ago, a man 

 could not cross on foot, and he may walk now on firm ground. The cause 

 is the tramping down of the country by cattle, making the ground firmer, 

 so that the water will go off. A blade of grass two feet long can throw 

 out more moisture than one two inches long. The country was every- 

 where covered with a mass of vegetation ; there was no spot left uncov- 

 ered, and that great mass of vegetation held water, and it reached the 



