28th February, A. D. 1895. 



ESSAY 



BY 



BURTON W. POTTER, Esq., Worcester, Mass. 

 Theme : — Forestry Preservation. 



A SUCCESSION of several dry seasons makes people begin to speculate 

 ou the cause thereof. Some say there have always been droughts and 

 water famines, and there always will be, do what we may. Others 

 say they are made by man and not by nature, and therefore they may 

 be prevented by human action. Providence is frequently held account- 

 able for many things it is not in the least to blame for. "We some- 

 times bring sickness, disease, and poverty upon ourselves by the viola- 

 tion of the ordinary and well-known rules of health and economy, 

 and then as an excuse for our misconduct and laziness we attribute 

 such calamity to a visitation of God. Sickness is always with us ; but 

 that does not excuse us from trying to live in accordance with the laws 

 of health, in order that we may burn out and not be snuffed out. 

 The poor we have with us always ; but that is no reason why we should 

 not strive for good laws and right living, in order that the number of 

 the poor may be as few as possible. God is not responsible for 

 results in human life until we have exerted, to a reasonable extent, 

 every moral, mental, and physical faculty at our command. When 

 the experiences of ages teach us that the proper condition of the 

 climate, soil, and atmosphere depends upon the right proportion of 

 forests to arable land, we should be careful not to disturb the equilib- 

 rium by cutting off too much of our forests. The best scientific 

 authorities maintain that nearly every country needs to be covered by 

 forests over at least one-quarter of its surface. It is a well-estab- 

 lished fact that the amount of rainfall in a country depends, in great 

 measure, upon the area covered by forests in that country. There are 

 some parts of the earth that used to have a fertile soil, a moist 

 climate, and streams always full, but seldom swelling to disastrous 



