476 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



life to perform its work; thence, through the capillary nets into the 

 veins again; and so round and round till the system caves in and 

 the angel of death lets out the new born spirit of eternal years. 

 Suppose the lungs are clogged, hurt or some way rendered incapable 

 of performing their functional duty, what now? Is the blood dimin- 

 ished in quantity? No, the siinpletrouble is that it cannot distribute 

 itself in normal circulation, and the poor man or woman suffers by 

 congestion, fever or some other ill. Remove obstructions and re- 

 store healthy action to the lungs, and all is right again. 



What the lungs are to our bodies, the forests are to the water cir- 

 culation of the earth. If they are raided by ax and fire, if the state 

 be destitute of forests, though there may be cloudbursts, cyclones, 

 and floods incident to the congestion of water in the air, the flow of 

 water is intermittent, attended by sudden rise and fall into drought 

 sequences which we can avert, for it is in our power to build up 

 forestry. Am I correct, that forests answer as lungs to a country? 

 Let us inquire here with unprejudiced care. 



The limbs and leaves of the forest shelter the ground from the 

 excessive heat of the sun, thereby lessening the evaporation of water 

 that is in the ground and preventing excessive dryness in the air 

 that is so dangerous to our crops. 



The dead leaves and sticks on the forest floor constitute the best 

 mulch in the world, protecting the tree roots. Their decay furnish 

 the roots with sustenance to develop the trunks, limbs, leaves, flow- 

 ers and fruit of the trees. The dead leaves and sticks together with 

 the mosses growing upon their decay, absorb the water and clog 

 the way of floods, thus economizing water for future needs. By 

 virtue of this forest carpet, constantly wasting and reconstructing.the 

 pelting rains are checked, also by the leaves and limbs, and the wind- 

 beaten snows are prevented from packing and hardening the 

 ground, leaving it, comparatively, in a loosened-up condition for 

 the water to infiltrate into the gravel and other water-bearing strata, 

 constituting underground reservoirs, feeding our springs that make 

 the living lakes, rivers and wells of the country. 



The vast network of tree-roots, dipping their innumerable tiny 

 mouths into these reservoirs and through the mulched soil for 

 nutriment, carries the alimental liquid by the capillary action of 

 woody fibre up, up to the leaves, that by electric force of the sun's 

 rays tear the oxygen and carbon apart, giving the oxygen to the air 

 for animal and plant respiration again, and appropriating the 

 carbon for woody structure, ring after ring, as the years ot growth 

 revolve. 



As noticed in our parallel figure, the lungs of the human system 

 are prime factors in making blood fit for body structure with all its 

 organs and functions that support immortal mind; so the forests 

 make pure water by the process before described. But for the forests, 

 that enable mixed and impure water from the dust-burdened air 

 and decay on the ground surfaces to filter through sand and gravel, 

 there would be no water fit to sustain sentient life. 



Surely the forests are the lungs of a country, and from their aro- 

 matic bowers, where man and beast can better breathe, come the 



