262 



ANNUAL BKPORT 



the fate of other nations and countries before it is too late. Portions 

 of Asia, Northern Africa, of Greece and even of Alpine Europe, by 

 the destruction of their timber, have been brought to a desolation al- 

 most as complete as that of the moon. At this date it is probable 

 that not ten per cent of the proper agricultural portion of our State 

 is covered with timber. 



How much do we need? It is estimated by the best scientists of 

 the age and of past ages that Germany needs 23 per cent of her land 

 kept constantly in timber in order to secure the highest agricultural 

 and healthful returns. When we consider her location, midway be- 

 tween the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Mediteranean, if she requires 

 23 per cent, what proportion is required by us in the interior of this 

 great continent? No portion of the world more needs the presence of 

 great and .numerous iorests to preserve an equilibrium of tempera- 

 ture than we. The same causes which produce great and sudden 

 changes of temperature have almost equal effect on the amount of 

 moisture in the atmosphere. Moisture is what we lack in our atmos- 

 phere. Pro.^. Tyndall says : "The removal for a single summer night 

 of the aqueous vapor from the atmosphere that covers England would 

 be attended with the destruction of every plant which a freezing tem- 

 perature would kill. It may be safely predicted that whenever the air 

 is dry the daily thermometric range, or the difference between heat 

 and cold will be very great." 



We all know evaporation is measured in a prodigiously rapid ratio 

 with the velocity of the wind, and that anything that retards the mo- 

 tion of the wind is eflBcacious in diminishing the exhalation from the 

 leaves of plants and evaporation from the soil. Timber is the only 

 thing we can utilize for this purpose, and then when we consider the 

 large amount of moisture that timber causes to be retained in the soil 

 by rainfalls, mulch, and in retarding the surface water from rapid 

 motion on uneven surfaces we realize that no civilized nation should 

 regard the subject with profounder interest, or prosecute it with in- 

 tenser energy than ours. Then let us take hold of the subject with a 

 degree of earnestness that shall be commensurate with the important 

 relation it bears to the material prosperity of our State. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Smith said in order to get definite information as to the amount 

 of these pine lands, it was necessary to go to the different counties 

 wheie they weie situated and make persoual inspection of them. This 

 subject was one of importance; it would be again brought before the 



