RELATIONS OF TREES TO WATER. 109 



which it is subject after any copious rain destroy every 

 crop that is planted upon it, and render it impracticable 

 for tillage. It is covered with sand heaps ; the little 

 stream that glided round it, fringed with azaleas and wild 

 roses, has disappeared, and the land is reduced to a bar- 

 ren pasture. 



The general practice of the pioneers of civilization on 

 this continent was to cut down the wood chiefly from the 

 uplands and the lower slopes of the hills and mountains. 

 They cleared those tracts which were most valuable for 

 immediate use and cultivation. Necessity led them to 

 pursue the very course required by the laws of nature for 

 improving the soil and climate. The first clearings were 

 made chiefly for purposes of agriculture ; and as every 

 farm was surrounded by a rampart of woods, it was shel- 

 tered from the force of the winds and pleasantly open to 

 the sun. But when men began to fell the woods to sup- 

 ply the demands of towns and cities for fuel and lumber, 

 these clearings were gradually deprived of their shelter, 

 by levelling the surrounding forest and opening the coun- 

 try to the winds from every quarter. But the clearing of 

 the wood from the plains, while it has rendered the cli- 

 mate more unstable, has not been the cause of inunda- 

 tions or the diminution of streams. This evil has been 

 produced by clearing the mountains and lesser elevations 

 having steep or rocky sides ; and if this destructive work 

 is not checked by legislation or by the wisdom of the peo- 

 ple, plains and valleys now green and fertile will become 

 profitless for tillage or pasture, and the advantages we 

 shall have sacrificed will be irretrievable in the lifetime 

 of a single generation. The same indiscriminate felling of 

 woods has rendered many a once fertile region in Europe 

 barren and uninhabitable, equally among the cold moun- 

 tains of Norway and the sunny plains of Brittany. 



Our climate suffers more than formerly from summer 



