48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the Union has more of forest area than it should permanently 

 preserve ; and most are sadly deficient in this respect. It is 

 true that we have wonderful forests in Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota, in the Sierra Nevada, and in Washington and 

 Oregon ; but we have also hundreds of thousands of square 

 miles in the great central portions of our vast domain, and 

 other hundreds of thousands of square miles on the great 

 Western plateau, between the Rocky Mountains proper and 

 the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, where there is scarcely 

 a forest or a grove. And nowhere in our country west of 

 the 100th meridian is there a forest of tough, hard wood, 

 suitable for wheelwright and other similar purposes. 



When we consider these facts, and when we see how 

 rapidly the timber of Oregon and AYashington is cut and 

 shipped to South America, to the Sandwich Islands, to China, 

 to France and to England ; and when we see how rapidly 

 the forests are felled in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michisfan, 

 to supply the Avants of the central and eastern portions of our 

 country, we shall see that there is ample cause for anxiety in 

 regard to the future of this nation. 



In this connection, just consider for a moment the fact, 

 that, as extensive as were the forests of California when the 

 gold-seekers went there in 1849, one-third of the timber and 

 lumber of that vast area has already been consumed. Yes, 

 California has used about one-third of her forests in a quarter 

 of a century ! What will be her condition a century hence, 

 as regards wood, timber and lumber, unless the wisest and 

 best of counsels prevail ? To ask the question is enough ; we 

 need not stay to answer it. 



It is true that it is not fully established that forests increase 

 the rainfall of a region or a country : but it is sure that they 

 are the great conservators of the rain which does fall. They 

 shade the ground, and thus prevent a too rapid evaporation. 

 The spong}' soil beneath the trees hold the rain that falls, and 

 gives it up, little by little, and thus the springs are ever full, 

 and they feed the clear mountain-streams which unite to fill 

 the broad river. 



Strip the hills of the forests, and the rains which fall there 

 quickly form torrents, which rush down the water-courses, 

 bearing the soil, and the sand, and the gravel, and the bowl- 



