REMARKS UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 577 



this fact in a marked degree along the Manchester & Portsmouth Rail- 

 road, in Auburn, Candia, and Raymond. The prospective opening of the 

 Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad will soon witness the stripping of the 

 forests between Whitefield and Conway. In the older and higher towns, 

 between the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, the trees are gaining. 

 Hundreds of farms, showing the names of their owners upon the maps 

 of twelve to fifteen years' issue, exhibit a return to the primitive condi- 

 tion. The houses are deserted or pulled down, and the grass-land is full 

 of shrubs. The roads, also, in many localities, have been abandoned, and 

 more ought to be, since they need repair so badly. 



Nature is taking the proper course with much of our territory. She 

 points out more desirable localities to the tillers of the ground, and, when 

 they remove, the trees spring up again. It appears, from observations 

 upon the salutary influences of forests, that a certain part of every country 

 must be kept in wood-growth, in order to preserve the balance of nature. 

 It is supposed that forests exert an influence upon the amount of moist- 

 ure precipitated; and it is certain that the removal of the trees causes 

 greater freshets after rain-storms, because there is nothing to keep the 

 water back. With abundant vegetation present, moisture is absorbed, 

 kept back, and evaporation is retarded. In time, legislation will require 

 the replanting of much of our woodland, unless the planting of shade- 

 trees abundantly in the settled districts, and the emigration of much of 

 the hill population, restore the balance of nature, without the necessity 

 of intervention. Legislation may judiciously hasten the restoration of 

 forests by encouraging the planting of shade-trees ; and it should be a 

 part of the duty of agricultural associations to offer premiums for the 

 production of artificial forests. Experiments in forcing the growth of 

 timber trees may also be encouraged. 



On the map I have endeavored to show where the principal patches 

 occur. We might estimate by percentages, calling the original universal 

 growth 100, and the average approximation to it in a township by the 

 estimated part of the natural abundance now existing. But I have 

 thought it easier to show by colors essentially the position and rela- 

 tive dimensions of the present wood-growth, premising that the cleared 

 portions are more likely to fall short of than to exceed the representation. 



Some very valuable facts in reference to the extent of our forests are 

 yoL. 1. 75 



