316 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



BUILDINGS. 



^\■l^ilst Jiiliir was successful iu bis ill-vcutilated aud crowded slieds, 

 others failed ^vitli expeDsivc houses, having every appliance which con- 

 venience, ventilation, and warmth demanded. The principal cause of 

 this success and failure we have pointed out in the facts that he did not 

 bring together more worms than produce sixty pounds of silk at one 

 feeding, nor did he enervate the worms by injudicious breeding, as did 

 those who were unsuccessful. Care ought to be observed in localities 

 as to the exposure of the cocoonery, where the temperature is subject 

 to extremes, and especially that of heat, for this is more frequent 

 during the feeding season than its opposite, and especially so where 

 large establishments are contemplated. Speaking of a prominent fail- 

 ure, the San Francisco Alta says : " The Davisville plantation, which 

 was the largest in the State, was rooted out when the trees were four 

 years old. The cocooneries there were not properly protected against 

 excessive heat." 



The exposure should be such as will protect the building from the 

 cold winds of the northwest, and from great heat also, by being open 

 to the southwest winds. In household silk-cultivation this can ordinarily 

 be sufficiently accomplished by a hedge and shade trees. Against wet 

 weather, or local dampness, a large open fire-place is necessary, that 

 proper dryness may be secured, and such moderate ventilation as will 

 keep the air pure, without creating a draught. 



FOREST CULTIVATION ON^THE PLAINS. 



THE CLIMATE AND CULTIVABLE CAPACITY OF THE PLAINS CONSIDERED 

 IN REGARD TO THE AJMELIORATIONS POSSIBLE THROUGH GREATER 

 PROTECTION BY FORESTS. 



By LoRnf Blodget. 



The existence of forests in a state of nature over almost the entire 

 area occupied by civilized nations is strong, if not decisive, proof that 

 they hold relations to the soil and surface that cannot safely be disre- 

 garded. In such parts of the Old World as have been wastefully occu- 

 pied in this respect, and where the native forests have been wholly re- 

 moved and the surface denuded, there has been a great waste of the 

 ancient fertility of the soil, and often an exhaustion, if not an absolute 

 destruction of the nations that once flourished in those countries. Ara- 

 bia, Palestine, and various parts of Asia Minor, with parts of Greece, 

 and Turkey in Europe, are illustrations of this waste and ruin in the 

 East, while Spain is perhaps the most striking examj^le in the West. 

 It is indisputable that the powerful nations that for centuries occupied 

 those countries first rose to strength on the natural wealth of soil and 

 forests which originally occupied the surface ; and their decline and ex- 

 haustion were at least coincident with the waste and denudation of the 

 country. The lands became less and less productive, and arid plains 

 only remained where general cultivation and dense populations long 

 existed, until finally the exhausted surface would maintain no greater 

 population than we find occupying it now. A long i)rocess of vigorous 

 and constant effort to restore what has been destroyed can alone make 

 those countries what they were, even within the best known periods of 

 history, and this course their enervated people are not likely at any early 

 day to attempt. 



