50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



the earth to yield in the most profuse abundance her rich productions of 

 timber, grains, and fruits for the uses of man. 



DISCUSSION OF DR. HUMPHREY'S ESSAY. 



C. V. Riley — I begin to feel like protesting against these essays 

 which give us but one side of any question. I have listened to numerous 

 essays on this subject, where whole arrays of figures and facts, or what 

 purport to be facts, are brought forward, and not a word said on the other 

 side. We have been told for the last six or eight years, that within ten 

 years we are going to be without timber in this country ; and yet as that 

 time approaches it is put off again. All these essays have, to my mind, 

 been exaggerations of the truth. There is a reaction in this matter. No 

 less an authority than Mr. Meehan has taken up the argument on the 

 other side, and I think that Dr. Warder conceded to me, before he left 

 for Europe, that the statements were not always reliable. 



The great impediment to cultivation in Virginia is the prevalence of 

 timber. Go through the Eastern States and there is no lack of forests, 

 and I dare be bound to say that in the State of Illinois, however much 

 the planting of trees may be desirable, there are more trees growing to- 

 day than there were twenty or thirty years ago. 



Take the Atlantic and Pacific road, if you will, and see the immense 

 amount of timber that is growing everywhere. I cannot see, for the life 

 of me, after examining this question very candidly, that forests affect the 

 climate a bit. We talk about the drought of a few years past having been 

 induced by the want of forests. Why not say that the wet seasons we 

 have had were the result of the same causes ? 



I believe that every field that is plowed is a far better conductor of 

 moisture than trees. Mr. Meehan claims that there is less water in the 

 ground under forests ; that the water runs off more easily when covered 

 with forests than it does when plowed and tilled. I think, if you will 

 look at meteorological tables, you will find that just as excessive droughts 

 must have taken place in years gone by, when the timber must have been 

 more plentiful, as take place now. In some of the States, where timber 

 is being cut all the time, regardless of consequences, there is some chance 

 of their not having the same supply they had before, because that "it is 

 difficult to grow the same kind of timber after it is once cut down," may 

 be true, but that we shall lack for timber in the next century is what I do 

 not believe. While I would have trees planted for ornamental purposes, 

 for use as timber, and for fruit culture, still I do protest against thus 



