16 



mi, -'Hi. -iv an- now living people who remember when the present limitless 

 expansi of - m<l -\vaste alonu' the banks of the Donez was covered with almost 

 impenetrable forest, interspersed with lakes, which have since dried up, or are 

 drvini; up. Our region is flat, deforested, and exposed to all winds. The 

 f.i-al east wiii.l linds no i niprdiment, and brings ruin in its train. This wind will 

 perhaps al no distant date prove fatal. The Grecian colonies went under pro- 

 bal.lv t'r.ini lli.' same cause. Protect the forest ; so plant forests; protect them 

 with rigorous laws. Tin- Volga and Don and all the rivers of southern Russia 

 \\ill he silt.-d up and disappear unless the forests be protected." 



Moiv ratal even than the drying up of the streams is the cessation of the 

 spring and summer rains. This is the immediate cause of last year's harvest 

 failutv, and n it even depends the current year's harvest. There have been local 

 rains. I mt not nearly enough. 



Tln> reversal of old conditions has been coming on gradually with the 

 denudation of the forests ; and emphatic warnings, as we have seen, have been 

 uttered. The only result has been the appointment of commissions which have 

 done nothing. Remedial measures on a large scale are now contemplated. Are 

 they too late ? 



A PLEA FOR PLANTING. 



The sixth Earl of Haddington, in a work in the form of letters to his grand- 

 son, published in 1773, says : " When I came to live here (1770) there were not 

 above fourteen acres set with trees. I believe that it was a received motion that 

 no trees would grow here on account of the sea air, and the north-east wind ; so 

 that the first of our family, who had lived here, either believed the common 

 opinion, or did not delight in planting." He continues : " I had no pleasure in 

 planting, but delighted in horses, and dogs, and the sports of the field ; but my 

 wife did what she could to engage me to it, but in vain. At last she asked leave 

 to go about it herself, which she did, and I was much pleased with some little 

 tilings, which were well laid out and executed. These attracted my notice, and 

 the Earl of Mar, the Marquis of Tweedale, and others admired the beauty of the 

 work, and the enterprise of the lady." After his lady had planted several orna- 

 mental clumps in the shape of wildernesses, she proposed to plant a field of about 

 three hundred Scotch acres, called the Muir of Tynningham, a waste common of 

 very little value. From this all her ladyship's friends, as well as her lord, tried 

 to dissuade her, but in vain ; she planted this likewise. In 1707 she began Ben- 

 ningwood ; the prejudice of the country being still against her, they continued to 

 deride her, telling her it could be of no use. Success, however, always gave her 

 encouragement. The next was a large tract of ground, mostly dead sand with very 

 little grass, and very near the sea. Here her ladyship participated in the com- 

 mon prejudices, and thought it would be of no use, but as a gentleman from 

 Hamburgh, being there on a visit, told her he had seen timber growing on such 

 land, she immediately formed a resolution of putting it to a test ; planted sixty- 

 seven acres of it ; and the trees grew to the astonishment of all who saw them. 

 Thus ln>r ladyship, to the honor of her sex and benefit of her lord and her country, 

 overcame the prejudices of the sea and the barren moor being pernicious, and of 

 horses and dogs being the best amusement for a nobleman; converting a dashing 

 son of Nimrod into an industrious planter, a thoughtless spendthrift into a frugal 

 patriot. His lordship goes on to say the next was a field, which he had often let 

 to tenants, who could do nothing with it ; and further, that he had a great deal 



