INSECURITY OF OUE FORESTS. 69 



earth uninhabitable by man. In his eagerness to im- 

 prove his present condition, and his senseless grasp for 

 immediate advantages, he may disqualify the earth for a 

 human abode. 



This matter has been strangely overlooked by legisla- 

 tors in the several States, though frequently discussed by 

 naturalists and philosophical writers. In spite of the 

 warnings the people have received from learned men, very 

 little thought has been given to the subject. How few 

 persons suspect that in less than a century the greatest 

 affliction this country is doomed to suffer may be caused 

 by the destruction of its forests ! Springs once full all 

 the year will be dry every summer and autumn ; small 

 rivers will desert their channels ; once profitable mill- 

 privileges will cease to be of any value ; every shower 

 will produce inundations ; every summer will be subject 

 to pernicious droughts. The preservation of the forests 

 in a certain ratio over our whole territory ought to be the 

 subject of immediate legislation in all the States. It is 

 not a part of the plan of this work, however, to treat of 

 woods as a subject of political economy, but rather to 

 prompt our wise men to protect them by statute, by show- 

 ing our dependence on them for our existence. 



It has been said that the intelligence of an educated 

 and civilized community like our own ought to save the 

 country from this evil. But it is our civilization that 

 has created the very danger that threatens us. A coun- 

 try, while it remains in the possession of barbarians, is 

 never disforested. It is a false assurance that the general 

 intelligence of the community will secure them from this 

 danger, unless they have studied the causes of it. A lit- 

 erary and even a scientific education, as popularly con- 

 ducted, does not imply any great amount of this kind of 

 knowledge. The intelligence of our people would un- 

 doubtedly prepare them to understand the subject when 



