8 THE FOREST TREE CULTURIST. 
The little stream that formerly came singing and danciug 
down from the great wood on the hill is now seen only for 
a few weeks in the early spring and fall, and then there is 
nothing left but its dry pebbly track, Is it not time we 
began to retrace our steps and again cover some of our now 
barren hillsides and many of our valleys with those trees 
which were not only an ornament and blessing to our land, 
but would now be a source of incalculable wealth? 
The great West, with its wide-reaching treeless prairies, 
feels the need of forests even more than we do in the At- 
lantic States. The farmer on the prairies needs a shelter 
from the winds, the value of which no one but those who 
have experienced the want can appreciate. In no way can 
such a protection be provided better or cheaper than by a 
belt of trees. Then the convenience of having timber near 
at hand for building fences, stakes for vines, trees, and a 
thousand little necessities for which wood is indispensable. 
A farmer who has provided a belt of trees around his 
farm has protected his fields from winds, and his grain will 
remain standing until ready to harvest. His fruit remains 
on the trees until ripe; and in a great measure his build- 
ings are safe against those fearful hurricanes which fre- 
quently rush with such destructive foree across those level 
plains. If people will persist in residing on those prairies, 
they certainly ought to be protected, but they should learn 
how to do it themselves, and not expect that Nature will 
rear it merely for the asking, without putting forth an 
effort on their part. 
I havea vivid recollection of spending several years near 
those grand old prairies where the wind went and came 
