90 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



OUE FOEESTS. 



WORCESTER NORTH. 

 Prize Essay by L. B. Caswell, Fitchburg. 



The destruction of our forests by the woodman's axe and 

 the devouring fire is at last making itself felt in the climate, 

 the scenery and the industries of our country. When the 

 early settlers -of America first reared their homes on these 

 shores they found a land of grand old forests ; stretching far 

 back towards the interior of the continent was the viro^in 

 forest in all its beauty of form and color, covering mountains, 

 hill and valley with its luxuriant growth. Here the majestic 

 oak, the noble pine and beautiful maple flourished in their 

 native wildness, and covered the land with "the noblest and 

 proudest drapery that sets ofi" the figure of our fair planet." 

 But these forests must fall that the rich soil beneath, teeming 

 with the elements of fertility, which had been accumulating 

 for ages in the vast laboratory of Nature, might be made avail- 

 able for the production of food for our ancestors and their 

 flocks and herds. Necessity compelled our forefathers to 

 clear away these forests, but we, with seeming thoughtless- 

 ness, are denuding the hilltops and stripping the mountain- 

 sides without considering the efiect which such a course will 

 have upon the future of our country. 



The functions which the forests perform in the economy of 

 Nature are vast and varied. They are the great fertilizers of 

 the soil and modifiers of climate, while their value to us for 

 timber and fuel cannot be estimated. In an aesthetic point of 

 view they are not to be ignored ; they give an added beauty 

 to the landscape, an indescribable charm which nothing else 

 in Nature can bestow. There is no other agent of Nature 

 which is so intimately connected with the health and comfort 

 of man, so necessary to the continued fertility of the soil, as 



