conqueror had left sugar plantations near Cuyoacan, in the valley of Mexico, where now, 

 owing, it is supposed, to the cutting down of the trees, the cold is too great for sugar cane 

 or any other tropical production to thrive.' And a most intelhgent gentleman in Worcester 

 tells me, that he attributes the greater difficulty now experienced in the cultivation of the 

 more delicate fruits in that town, to the fact that the encircling hills, formerly crowned 

 with trees, are now, to a considerable degree, laid bare. The laws of the motion of the 

 atmosphere are similar to those of water. A bare hill gives no protection. The wind 

 pours over it as water pours over a dam. But if the hill be cai)ped with trees, the windy 

 cascade will be broken as into spray. Its violence will be sensibly diminished. We are 

 not aware, on the now protected and irregular surface of New England, how important 

 are the screens furnished by the forests. Travelers from Illinois tell us, that on the vast 

 prairies in that and some of the other Western States, the wind is almost always fresh, and 

 often blows a gale, before which men can hardly stand. The new settlers are glad to shel- 

 ter their habitations under the lea of the spurs of forest which stretch like promontories 

 into the prairie lands. A forest near the coast in any part of New England, protects those 

 further inland from the chilling east winds ; and, while such winds prevail, a person passing 

 towards the sea, experiences a marked change of temperature upon crossing the last wood, 

 and especially the last wood-covered hill. One who would have his house screened from 

 the northerly winds, must take care to have behind it a hill crowned with trees, or at least 

 to have a wood stretching from the north-west to the north-east. A garden surrounded by 

 tall trees admits the cultivation, even in our severe climate, of plants almost tropical. 



" Forests not only protect from winds, they must prevent their formation. The air rest- 

 ing over a broken surface cannot be rapidly heated to a uniformly high temperature, so as 

 to rise upwards in great masses and create a violent wind."* 



Now, if forests or plantations of trees exercise such modifying influences upon 

 climate, should not every man who cultivates the soil, take a lively interest in pre- 

 serving them, and even in creating them where none or a too scanty supply exists at 

 present ? Next to the soil itself, the climate is the most important consideration to 

 agriculture and horticulture. It is the subject of continual apprehension and remark. 

 The dread of intense cold, excessive heat or dryness, high winds, &c., haunt the anxious 

 cultivator from one end of the year to the other ; and in the most favorable seasons, he 

 can not hope to escape without loss. Look back to the winter of 1853 and '54, and 

 to last summer. Who could estimate the total loss from extremes of cold and drouth 

 in that single season ? We trust that in these days of improvement, when everything 

 pertaining to the rural arts is undergoing an intelligent scrutiny, that the climatic 

 influence of trees will not be overlooked. We have little hope of reaching directly, 

 with one word of warning, a very large number of those who wield the destinies of the 



♦ " A writer in the 6th volume of the 2^. E. Farmer, gays, ' It is not merely in forests, nor as supplying firewood 

 and timber that trees are valuable. ' Considered agriculturally,' says an Knglisli writer, 'the advantages to be derived 

 from subdividing extensive tracts of country by plantations are evidently great, whether considered in the light of 

 alTording immediate shelter to the lands, or in that of improving the local climate.' The fact that the climate may be 

 thus improved, has, in very many instances, been sufficiently established. It is indeed astonishing how much better 

 cattle thrive in fields even but moderately sheltered, than they do in an open, exposed country. In the breeding of 

 cattle, a sheltered farm, or a sheltered corner in a farm, is a thing much prized ; and in instances where fields are 

 taken by the season for the purpose of fattening cattle, those most fchellercd, never fail to bring the highest rents. 

 ♦ * * Dr. Deane has observed, ' pasture lands should be well fenced in small lots, * * * and these lots should 

 be bordered at least, with rows of trees. It is best that trees of some kind or other should be growing scattered in 

 every point of a pasture, so that cattle may never have far to go in a hot hour, to obtain a comfortable shade.' " 



" ' Small lots, thus sheltered, are not left bare of snow so early in the spring as larger ones lying bare ; since fences 

 and trees cause more of it to remain on the ground. The cold winds in March and April hurt the grass much 

 the ground is bare; and the winds in winter will not suffer snow to lie deep in land that is too open to the 

 winds and storms.'—^. E. Farmer,\l., 860." 



