THE FORESTER. 



March, 



four times as large. The forests have a 

 large share in the economy of the country, 

 and, if we destroy them, a large part of 

 Norway will become uninhabited, show- 

 ing that it is nearly as bad to destroy 

 forests as it would be to kill the popula- 

 tion. 



History shows us that the destruction 

 of the forests was the death of the people, 

 anyhow of agricultural life. Look at the 

 countries on the Mediterranean and in the 

 East, now burning deserts. The Jordan 

 is a wild stream flowing through a wilder- 

 ness, and where Jerico once stood, sur- 

 rounded by palm trees, there are now only 

 a few shabby mud huts the country that 

 was once flowing in milk and honey is now 

 a desert. 



Where there is no water, Nature has no 

 life, and as the forests are the guardians 

 of the water, wherever they are destroyed, 

 the water is either dried up or is gathered 

 into wild streams that cause floods and de- 

 stroy man's industry. The forests regulate 

 the rainfall, divide the water into small 

 streams during fine weather. Before a 

 rain the leaves absorb all the dampness in 

 the air. This is why it always commences 

 to rain so fine and dew-like in the forest 

 districts, for when the rain drops fall the 

 leaves absorb a part of the water. In 

 places where the forests have been cut 

 down and there are no trees to absorb the 

 moisture the rain falls in torrents without 

 any benefit to the ground, as the water 

 rushes immediately away toward the sea, 

 carrying the earth with it. Our coast is 

 now nearly bare of earth and on the farms 

 round the fiords the rocks protrude from 

 the sides of the mountains. 



Once there were beautiful forests here, 

 as the trees regulated the streams and the 

 streams regulated the heat. We all know 

 how cool and pleasant it is in the forests, 

 and that the temperature is more nearly 

 equal in forest covered countries. There 

 are the greatest changes in temperature on 

 the prairies of America and the steppes of 

 Asia and Africa. In Sahara we can fry 

 eggs in the sun during the day, but must 

 wear an ulster at night. 



The forests also do good work in prepar- 

 ing the land for cultivation. Every tree 



brings rich nourishment 'from the depths 

 of the earth, the roots reaching down to 

 the most nourishing places after mineral 

 salts and bringing them to the surface of 

 the earth. 



As the forests have such a great value, 

 it is clear that it is of great importance to 

 care for them, and what we must do 

 now is to try to win back what we have 

 lost. 



The forests can be raised again, and the 

 country once more made as beautiful as of 

 old, if the people will only attend to this 

 important matter. We must plant and 

 care for our forests, the same as we do for 

 our fields and pastures. It is done in other 

 countries, and we are about the only na- 

 tion to leave the forests to look after them- 

 selves. Germany does the largest amount 

 of forest planting, but it has also been 

 done successfully in Norway. The gov- 

 ernment has bought fields for school forest 

 planting, established planting schools and 

 made laws for the care and protection of 

 forests. Private societies have also taken 

 up this matter. In this town (Bergen) 

 we have a beautiful view and good evi- 

 dence of what can be done if we only 

 stand together and try. In 1869 Bergen's 

 Society commenced planting trees. The 

 spade was then used for the first time in 

 furtherance of this object. Now the moun- 

 tains round this city are partly clothed in 

 green. The trees soon began to grow in 

 spite of the strong northwest wind and 

 are now a good example and the pride of 

 the city. The men who were the prime 

 leaders in this work have raised for them- 

 selves a memorial which will be blessed 

 by coming generations, not only here, but 

 everywhere, where forest-planting has 

 been tried. These trees are thriving well, 

 and the time has come for us to work with 

 greater energy, since what has already 

 been done is as but a drop in the ocean. 



The government has six large and some 

 smaller planting schools, which now plant 

 about two and a-half million trees a year, 

 and during the last thirty years twenty mil- 

 lion trees have been planted, but what is 

 that when we use as much and more every 

 year than nature can replace in thirty 

 years. The only thing to do is to save 



