48 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



the olive. Virgil describes the Crimea as being subject to the rigor of an 

 eight months' winter; Diodorus Siculus narrates how whole armies crossed 

 the frozen Rhine ; and other ancient authors bear similar testimony. In 

 Europe, the change is attributed to the clearing up of the forests, and 

 exposing large areas of land to the direct action of the sun. Similar 

 changes are taking place in our own country. The early settlers of New 

 England and Virginia speak of the severity, length, but equability of the 

 American winters, which is quite different from their comparative mild- 

 ness, shortness, but extreme variability now. " Then, when spring came, 

 it came to stay, and not as now, to relapse suddenly back to winter." It 

 would not be a very great stretch of the imagination to suppose that the 

 severity of last winter was caused, to a great extent, by the loss of our 

 forest on our northern border. 



One of the first calamities that is sure to follow the destruction of 

 the forests, is a dearth of water. Interesting and valuable facts, bearing 

 on this subject, appear in the report of the recent congress of land and 

 forest cultivators, held at Vienna. It says that the summer low water 

 mark of the Elbe, in 1837, sbowed a diminished supply, in half a century, 

 of ten feet. The Rhine and Oder have likewise declined. In the old 

 world, many rivers have entirely disappeared, or shrunken to little streams. 

 In Palestine the springs are dry, and the Jordan is four feet lower than in 

 former days. Greece has suffered severely from the fall of her forests ; 

 in Hungary the drought is periodical ; Sardinia and Sicily have lost their 

 ancient fruitfulness. On the other hand, there were formerly but five or 

 six days of rain during the year in the delta of Lower Egypt ; but since 

 Mahomet Ali planted some twenty million of trees, the number of rainy 

 days is forty-five or forty-six. Ismalia, upon the Suez canal, was built 

 upon a sandy desert ; but since the ground has been saturated with water, 

 trees, bushes, and plants have grown, and with the appearance of vegeta- 

 tion, the climate has changed. Four or five years ago, says the report, 

 rain was unknown in these regions ; but in the year from May, 1868, to 

 May, 1869, there were fourteen days of rain. So, also, near Trieste, a 

 finely-wooded district was destroyed by the Venetians, and twenty-five 

 years ago, rain had ceased to fall ; but to save the country from total 

 abandonment, the Austrian government planted several million of olive 

 trees. The very soil was conveyed in baskets, and with care the trees 

 took root and thrived. It is stated, also, that the conversion of the desert 

 of Utah into a blooming country has raised the Salt Lake seven feet above 

 its old level. 



Similar facts are observed in our own country. ^ Already, in many 

 parts of New England, there is a serious decline in the supply of water, 

 and the value of trees for something else than lumber and sugar is making 

 itself plainly felt. The volume of water in the Ohio, is stated in the 

 report of the congress, to be evidently diminishing. The same is true of 

 the Hudson, upon which the extent of navigable water is yearly receding, 



With such on array of facts, every lover of horticultural pursuits, and, 

 in fact, every lover of his country, should set himself to the work of 

 planting trees, or lend his influence to promote forest culture. If we can 



