ARBOR DAY ITS HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 45 



and other parts of the trees. From their seeds and nuts, also, what 

 valuable products are derived. In some countries these supply a large 

 part of the food of the people. 



But the forests are of great importance to us not only on account of 

 what they thus yield directly for our use and comfort, but on account 

 of their relations to climate and health, to the flow of streams, and to 

 the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. 



By reason of the deep, spongy soil formed by the decay of their leaves 

 through a succession of years the forests become great storehouses of 

 moisture. The rain which falls upon them, instead of being evaporated 

 as it is from the open ground or flowing off at once into the streams, 

 perhaps with destructive violence, sinks into the soft and retentive 

 soil, from which it flows out gradually into the neighboring runlets 

 and brooks and thence into the larger streams, and preserves in them 

 an equable flow, preventive alike of flood and droughts. It is esti- 

 mated that four-fifths of the water falling on wooded areas is retained 

 by them, whereas on those which are without timber cover only one- 

 fifth is retained, the other four-fifths rushing off in torrents and often 

 producing disastrous floods. Through many an under-ground channel, 

 also, the stored-up water of the forests reappears in springs in the 

 meadows and elsewhere, to slake the thirst of man and beast and give 

 delight to old and young. The forests are thus our great regulators of 

 water supply. They also protect us and protect our crops, our fruits, 

 and our flocks from the violence of the winds. What we call a gentle 

 wind is pleasant, but we all know that the air can move with destructive 

 violence. We all know, also, how grateful is the shelter which a grove 

 or even a narrow belt of trees affords from a cold wind. When the air 

 is still it maybe quite cold without occasioning us much discomfort; 

 but when it is in motion it absorbs the heat of our bodies more rapidly 

 by the more frequent contact of its particles with them, and this may go 

 so far as to be very painful and, perhaps, destroy life. Now, the forests, or 

 even a few rows of trees, greatly check the movement of the winds and 

 thus protect us both from their chilling effect and their violence. They 

 do the same for the crops in the farmer's fields and the fruits in his 

 orchards. They prevent them from being withered and blasted by cold 

 or hot winds or from being broken down by their force. People, in some of 

 our western States especially, have found u shelter belts," as they are well 

 called, almost indispensable to the successful cultivation of some crops. 



By equalizing the temperature and moisture of the atmosphere as 

 they do, and by other influences which they exert, the forests are also 

 promotive of health. A region of forests, especially if it is elevated, is a 

 healthful region. So we know what multitudes resort every year to the 

 White Mountains of New Hampshire, and to the Adirondacks and the 

 Catskills, or to the great forest regions of the South or of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and how beneficial to health they find them. 



In whatever aspect, then, we contemplate the forests we see that they 

 are of the greatest value to us. 



