ii6 



ARBORICULTURE. 



ment? These poles are probably worth 

 $5 net. In thirty years they would have 

 no less value than they bring at present. 

 Two hundred trees may be estimated as 

 a stand for each acre, or $i,ooo per acre 

 income three decades hence. Presum- 

 ing that the seed may be collected, sown, 

 grown and planted at a cost of $30 per 

 acre, which is possible, we have a cost, 

 including interest for thirty years, of $84, 

 against which we place the increase in 

 thirty years of $1,000. There are many 

 good investments possible in forest cul- 

 ture. 



DEFORESTATION AND CLIMATE. 



In an address delivered before the Ger- 

 man Meteorological Society at Berlin, 

 Dr. Hennig spoke of the influence of 

 forests upon climate, and he called atten- 

 tion to a number of coincidents where 

 the depletion of forests appears to have 

 been attended by drier conditions. Ac- 

 cording to Consul-General Gunther, of 

 Frankfort, who has summarized the ad- 

 dress for the Consular Reports, Dr. Hen- 

 nig said that the climateof Greece, where 

 to-day only 16 per cent, of the area is 

 covered with forests, has become drier. 

 An increase of temperature and decrease 

 of rain are noted, as compared with an- 

 cient times. This is especially note- 

 worthy in Attica, which was thickly cov- 

 ered with forests about 3,000 years ago, 

 and where hardly any rain now falls ; 

 while the heat in the open air attains a 

 degree of intensity that would make the 

 indulgence in athletic sports, once fa- 

 mous, now almost an impossibility. 



Similar conditions exist in the penin- 

 sula of Sinai, where thousands of years 

 ago the people of Israel found a lux- 

 uriant and fertile country, though to-day 

 it is a desert. Palmvra. also once a 



flourishing oasis in the Syrian desert, 

 presents to-day only a waste of stones 

 and ruins. In Mexico, where the Span- 

 iards cut down the forests in the moun- 

 tains, droughts changing to devastating 

 floods are now noticeable, especially in 

 the neighborhood of the City of Mexico. 

 In Algeria, where, since the middle of 

 the last century, the forests have been 

 cut down on a large scale, dry weather 

 has increased ; and in Venezuela the level 

 of Lake Tacarigua, to which Alexander 

 von Humboldt drew attention, has been 

 lowered in consequence, it is said, of de- 

 forestation. 



Geological investigations prove that 

 arid deserts are not permanent features 

 of the earth's surface. The most level 

 expanses have once formed part of the 

 ocean bed, or great inland seas. The 

 orographical changes that have cut oflf 

 these seas and created inland drainage 

 areas, probably at the same time modified 

 the rainfall of the locality. Excessive 

 evaporation dried up the great lakes, 

 leaving at present a series of receiving 

 rivers that dwindle down by evapora- 

 tion as they flow. 



RAISING GOOD TIMBER. 



AlDout thirty years ago I bought an 

 eighty-acre farm. At that time it con- 

 tained about thirty-five acres of timber, 

 consisting of a few old trees, saplings, 

 brush, etc. I cut the old trees out and 

 used the wood for fence posts and fire- 

 wood. That gave the saplings a better 

 chance to grow. By planting a mulberry 

 on vacant places and by planting black- 

 nuts in the fall there will be no need to 

 look after them until some years later, 

 when they may need a little pruning. I 

 have black walnut trees that were 



