380 AMEEICAN FOREST PLANTATIONS. 



Prof. Whitney's discouraging views as to tlie propagation of arti 

 ficial forests on the prairies. It is extravagant, doubtless, to sup 

 pose that prairies only require to be " let alone," in order to cover 

 themselves spontaneously and speedily with woods. True, forests 

 are not found on the natural prairie, but so neither are turnips, 

 beets or carrots, and the want of the one no more proves the 

 unfitness of the soil to produce them, than does the absence of 

 the others prove that they can not be cultivated on that soil. 

 ISTatural groves occur at many points on the prairies, and forest- 

 trees have been successfully and extensively planted on them. 

 Of course trees while young may require a different treatment 

 from that suitable for them in other regions, but an artificial 

 forest is everywhere the product of cultivation. As Cooper says, 

 we can not assume "that any plant will not grow anywhere until 

 it has been tried," — tried, that is, by judicious and persevering 

 experiment. Nothing is to be inferred from the failure of hasty 

 and careless trials, and I see no reason to doubt that, with proper 

 care, trees will thrive on these plains as well as elsewhere. In 

 any case the question will now be subjected to a practical test, 

 and the plantations are so extensive, and, as is reported, so thrifty 

 in growth, that one generation will suffice to determine with cer- 

 tainty and precision how far chmate is affected by clothing with 

 wood a vast territory naturally destitute of that protection. 



I have thus far spoken only of the preservation and training 

 of existing woods, not of the planting of new forests, because 

 European experience, to which alone we can appeal, is convers- 

 ant only with conditions so different from those of our own cli- 

 mate, soil and arboreal vegetation, that precedents drawn from 

 it can not be relied upon as entirely safe rules for our guidance 

 in that branch of rural economy.* 



I apprehend that one rule, which is certainly alike applicable 

 to both sides of the Atlantic — that, namely, of the absolute ex- 

 clusion of domestic quadrupeds from all woods, old or young, 

 not destined for the axe — would be least likely to be observed 

 in our practice. The need of shade for cattle, and our invet- 

 erate habits in this respect, are much more serious obstacles 



* Many valuable suggestions on this subject will be found in Bryakt, 



Forest Trees, chap. vi. et seq. 



