secretary's budget. 411 



rule, and this is limited only by the means of the planter and the 

 amount of land at his disposal. 



" Where the grounds about our country houses are extensive the 

 luxury of shade trees can be indulged in; but healthy shade without 

 perfect ventilation and circulation of air is impossible. The soil, to be 

 fit for man to live on, must have the rays of the sun to bathe it and the 

 fresh warm air to come in contact with it. A soil damp and over- 

 shaded to such an extent that the sun never reaches it, is unfit for a 

 playground for our children or a retreat for adults; indeed, such a 

 place is a veritable death trap for many infants and weakly persons, 

 both in summer and in winter. 



" Houses overshaded are not healthful, and too many trees near 

 sleeping and living rooms exercise a very injurious influence. It would 

 seem as if these truths must be too well known to need any statement, 

 but a journey through many of our towns the past summer and careful 

 investigation have convinced me that this undesirable condition of 

 things is only too common, and has become a positive injury in almost 

 every direction." 



THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY FORESTS ON SPRINGS AND RIVERS. 



Hon. Cassius M. Clay said before the American Forestry Congress, 

 at Cincinnati: I move in the sphere of experience with more cer- 

 tainty. I remember when thfe forests were hardly broken here that 

 springs of water were very frequent and perrennial. The rivulets and 

 creeks and rivers had a perpetual flow. These have now changed. 

 The rivulets and creeks are now dried up in summer, and the fish so 

 often caught by me in earlier years are gone. Not one spring in a 

 thousand remains. Indian corn was generally planted in March, and 

 the rains and exhalations of moisture from the surroundings made 

 crops successful every year. Now the destruction of the forests has 

 lost to us that bed of leaves which was a perpetual reservoir of water 

 for springs and evaporation, aided by the treading of the hard surface, 

 the rainfall, if the same as of old, rushes ofl" at once, sweeping the soil 

 into the Mississippi delta. The dry winds absorb not only the" ancient 

 humidity of the air, but drink up the subsoil evaporation, so that our 

 winters are longer, more changeable and unendurable.. Corn can 

 hardly be safely planted till late in April, and drouth too often ruins all, 

 in spite of our best efforts. 



Dr. J. D. Hooper, of the Royal Key Gardens, says : The presence 

 of forests plays a most important part in storing the rainfall and yield- 

 ing up gradually to the strearrls a continuous supply of water. More- 

 over, the rain is retained by forests on the surface of the ground ; it 



