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Forests are conductors of electricity. It is supposed by some writ- 

 ers that the reason why great portions of Spain, formerly rich and pro- 

 ductive, are now barren, is because the forests have been cleared. — 

 Nothing now arrests the electric fluid ; nothing arrests the clouds and 

 makes them pour their treasures on the earth. The electric fluid may 

 be considered as having an important influence upon vegetation. For- 

 ests serve as natural conductors of electricity, to convey it to the earth. 

 We should carefully leave our hills covered with trees. 



Another advantage of foi'ests lies in their aflecting the winds of a 

 country. On a country stripped of trees there is nothing to break the 

 force of the winds. A bare hill does not protect a plain. If you cover 

 a hill with trees, they will furnish a protection to the adjacent lands. 

 Over a bare hill the wind pours like water in a cascade. The iTiotions 

 of great currents in the air resemble currents in the water. A gentle- 

 man of intelligence in Worcester, had stated to him that he believed 

 that the reason why many delicate plants and fruits, which were for- 

 merly cultivated with success, now fail, is because the hills are stripped 

 of their trees, which formerly furnished a protection. Trees are of 

 great value as protectors on a small scale. Massachusetts is a country 

 of winds, as the sailors well know. 



Almost all the valuable trees which are planted in England, have 

 nurses planted to protect them. Mr. Emerson had heard many com- 

 plaints made that forest trees, when transplanted, would not grow ; but 

 no pains arc taken for their protection. We often set out delicate plants 

 on a bare plain, or on a windy side of a hill, and complain that they 

 will not grow ; but under such circumstances we can never look for 

 success, unless we give them some protection. 



Another advantage of the forests is in the preservation and improve- 

 ment of the soil. When the land is stripped of trees, the soil is liable 

 to be carried off on lands which are inclined. When the rain pours 

 down on unprotected hills, it forms torrents which carry with them large 

 portions of the soil. Most of this the matted roots of the trees would 

 retain. Besides, every tree returns more to the soil than it takes from 

 it. Every tree has thus a tendency to retain and to improve the soil. 

 Trees growing ia the forest improve the soil. The processes by which 

 soil has been formed upon rocks have been watched. At first the lich 

 ens appear ; they want nothing but foot-hold ; and their almost invisi- 

 ble seeds, or sporules, are perhaps always floating in the air; there is 

 no rock so hard and bare but they cling to it. They get their nourish- 



