SECRETARY'S REPORT. 217 



awake, of the ameliorating, equalizing and softening influences 

 which forests have upon the atmosphere and the climate. Thus 

 we are brought to a very important point for consideration. At 

 the present day, horticulturists (orchardists,) understand well 

 the advantages of having tlieir grounds protected by belts of 

 forest trees. Herdsmen (stock raisers,) appreciate the value 

 of a forest on the north side, adjoining their large and open 

 pastures, into which their cattle can go for protection against 

 cold and raking winds and severe storms. 



Think you that if the Western prairies were interspersed with 

 copses of evergreens, with forests of deciduous and evergreen 

 trees intermixed, against the leeward side of which cattle could 

 stand, and into which they could plunge, seeking shelter from 

 the cutting prairie winds, we should see so many accounts of 

 their taking shelter on the warm side of a haystadk, and freezing 

 to death at that ? We trust not. 



Besides the breaking, sifting and screening the chilling blasts, 

 and gusts of wind, thereby rendering our winters endurable, it 

 is a well known fact that woodlands are quite as beneficial in 

 making the climate bearable during the heat of summer. Our 

 forests are great reservoirs of water. The coating of leaves which 

 the ground annually receives, the mass of roots penetrating 

 deeply the soil, drawing up, all serve to equalize the moisture ; 

 hence the soils in our forests are almost always wet, even to the 

 very surface. In winter, when the earth may be frozen a foot 

 or more deep, while having the protection of a little snow, the 

 forest in proximity will p^ptect the soil within its depths from 

 frost, so that it may be penetrated with a spade at any time. 



In summer, when the naked soil may be dry, like a heap of 

 ashes fresh from the furnace, to the depth of a foot, the earth in 

 an adjoining forest may be found to contain sufficient moisture 

 up to the coat of mulch, which lies on the surface. Considering 

 those conditions, who can estimate the calamitous consequences 

 which would arise from a removal of all the forests in New 

 England ? We think the rigors of winter and the parching heat 

 of summer would alike be unbearable. We have no fears that 

 the woods will, while the earth is inhabited by man, be all cleared 

 away, and make the allusion only because we believed tliat in 

 proportion to the diminution of woodland will the atmosphere 

 and climate grow more variable. 



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