FOREST PLANTING. 



The few and hesitating experiments in isolated localities, which 

 have been made in the growing of forest trees, have no significance as 

 far as the general supply of future wants is concerned. But they are 

 of inestimable value in so far as they teach the ease and comparative 

 rapidity with \yhich forest trees, useful to the farm, to the workshop 

 and to the railroad, may be produced ; and in so far as they show 

 that the agricultural men of the country have already (in advance of 

 the men in high political life), appreciated the necessities of the 

 present and the future. They are also of value in demonstrating that, 

 however remote the profit of forest culture may have been heretofore 

 considered, it is yet true that the artificial plantation may in a very 

 few years, by judicious planting at first, be made to yield current 

 returns equal to the cost of planting and care. 



Modifications and ameliorations of climate, due to the destruction 

 or the extension of forests, have begun to enlist serious consideration. 

 There can be no doubt of the beneficial influence of the forest areas 

 equal in aggregate to one-fourth or one-third of the entire area of 

 any extensive region. But however important climate effects may be 

 in this connection however desirable it may be that the crops and 

 animal life of the farm should enjoy the benefits of forest influences 

 and shelter, the need of extensive forest planting is important enough 

 without taking into consideration its effect on atmospheric mover/Tents, 

 temperature and rainfall. The store, the dwelling, the shop, the 

 factory, the railroad, the wharf, the warehouse all these demand 

 action ; demand it in the name of domestic life, of farm economy, of 

 commerce, of all the arts of our civilization. What we shall save in 

 climate by preserving forest areas, or gain by their extension, is just 

 so much to be enjoyed in addition to other compensations. The less 

 violent sweep of the winds in Illinois, as compared with forty or fifty 

 years ago, due to the obstruction caused by buildings, hedges, fences, 

 orchards, artificial groves, and wind-breaks on her prairies, speak to 

 the understanding of plain men more forcibly than any language we 

 could use. 



There may be those who regard forest planting as a work of 

 mystery and grandeur, beyond the reach of common farmer. This is 



