52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mer forests in a great measure held back for gradual distri- 

 bution throughout the season. Storms of wind and pelting 

 hail sweep resistlessly over the bared lands, the fury of 

 which was checked, or entirely abated, l>y the tall forests of 

 the past. Our seasons are considered hotter in summer 

 and colder in winter than formerly, and the frosts reach 

 deeper into the soil and remain tKere longer in the 

 spring.* 



It would be difficult to determine just what percentage of 

 the land should remain covered with forest growth in order 

 to meet all the requirements of man, and at the same time 

 preserve a proper climatic balance. According to the soil 

 and atmospheric conditions of the locality, its distance 

 from the ocean and the direction of prevailing winds, a 

 variation of from ten to thirty-five per cent, of forest 

 cover may be given as some indication of the proportion 

 required, f 



Here in Massachusetts, one of the most important services 

 which can be rendered by the forest trees is that of binding 

 together and retaining in place the shifting sands which 

 cover such large areas of our sea coast. In many cases a 

 thoughtless destruction of the trees Avhich formerly grew 

 near the shore has allowed the encroaching sands to over- 

 whelm territory once under cultivation. In one familiar 

 instance an apple orchard at Ipswich lies buried to 

 the upper branches of the trees in a mass of fine white 

 sand. 



It is gratifying to know, however, although we have suf- 

 fered by this destruction of trees on our exposed coast, that 

 one of the very few examples of the ability to successfully 

 replant these waste shore lands, and at a comparatively 

 small cost, is to be found in the planttition of pitch pine in 

 the south-eastern portion of our State. Of these it has 

 justly been said: — "The real progress in sylviculture in 

 Massachusetts has been made by the faiTners of Barnstable 

 and Plymouth counties, who have taught us how to plant 

 and raise forests successfully and profitably, under the most 



* " The Earth as Modified by Human Action." G. P. Marsh, chap. III., pp. 148 

 to 397. 



f Ibid., also Femow, Report Forestry Biu'cau. 1886, p. 153, note. 



