170 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 



their proportions, become reddened by acids, 

 mixed in tlie atmosphere. Some years ago, 

 when in the drug business, I prepared a series 

 of six old-fashioned wine glasses, sprinkling 

 in fine powder of various chemical salts, &c., 

 of a diflerent kind into each separate glass, 

 not perceptible to the superficial observer ; in 

 a bottle I had an aqueous solution of blue 

 cabbage, or litmus will do as well ; a portion 

 of this liquid poured into each glass will de- 

 velop as many different colors as there are 

 glasses with different chemical bases — as acid 

 or alkaline. We here see how wonderful a 

 difference slight changes make — so with the 

 hydrocarbons and aniline colors — but, alas ! I 

 am so iironc to digress, as analogous things 

 flood in upon my mind, that I can not avoid it. 

 That the leaves undergo a chemical change, 

 by acid action, was proved by Mr. Joseph 

 Wharton ; he exposed a variety of red au- 

 turhnal leaves upon a staging under a glass 

 receiver, with a capsule containing ammonia, 

 and had the gratification to perceive that, in 

 most cases, the green color was restored ; the 

 leaves having a thin and porous cuticle un- 

 dergoing the change most rapidly and com- 

 pletely, the restored green .color remaining 

 from some minutes to hours. The alkali of 

 the ammonia neutralized the action of the 

 acid, as I have tested for myself. 



Frost, probably, plays no other part in 

 causing the autumnal tints than merely to 

 arrest the circulation by killing the leaves, or 

 more or less chilling them, when yet the juices 

 are abundant and the leaves full and plump. 

 Thus, suddenly checked in the early fall of 

 the year, the atmospheric acids and sunshine 

 have full play upon the blue substance, alka- 

 lines, tannic and other bases, variously dis- 

 tributed in the various trees and shrubs in in- 

 numerable modifications. Hence, the most 

 brilliant red, through all the grades of the 

 gamut to pink, as tlie acids prevail, from straw- 

 yellow through all shades, or maculated as 

 the alkaline predominates, and compounds, 

 perhaps, of which we have no exiserimental 

 knowledge. Chlorophyll is very sensitive. We 

 have a remarkable exhibition of change of 

 color in the leaves of the "Amaranthus tri- 

 color," known as "Joseph's coat of many 

 colors;" here we see on the same leaf a por- 

 tion bright red, bright yellow and a pure green, 

 as of connnon or natural occurrence,not to men- 

 tion the beautiful zonales and divers-colored 

 leaves on plants cultivated for ornament. 

 The reason whj' there was less variety and less 

 brilliancy this season is the want of early 

 frost to kill the leaves,or at least to arrest the 

 flow of sap. We hear of fruit trees blossom- 

 ing in numerous places ; the continued mild 

 weather developed the otherwise latent buds, 

 the juices in the leaves were diverted to this 

 extra effort, or gradually dissipated by evapo- 

 ration and the ordinary decay, by disorganiz- 

 ing the blue coloring matter, and the chemi- 

 cal compounds, so that when frost did come, the 

 work of dissipation was too far advanced, and 

 before "Jack Frost" entered the field this sea- 

 son his artistic brush could not find the neces- 

 sary material to work upon, and a monotonous 

 sickly-looking mess of dead leaves is the re- 

 sult ; so that lovers of snch collections find 

 the highly-colored leaves "few and far be- 

 tween." But, I suppose, from the language 

 of a portion on autumn, in "Thompson's 

 Seasons," that he, good man, never saw one 

 of our glorious autumnal seasons, when the 

 woods glowed and glistendd with stately trees 

 in gold, carmine and purple array, inter- 

 .^persed with green pines, etc. His language 

 may apply to our present season, for he says : 

 " But see the fading many colored woods, 

 Shade dcepenins; over shade, the country round 

 Imbrowned ; crowded umbrage, dusk and dun, 

 Of every hue, from wan declining green 

 To sooty dark." 



What we term the laws of nature we may 

 as well call the laws of God, wherein we see 

 the power, wisdom and goodness of the Great 

 Law-giver. In Street's poems I find these 

 words, which, in conclusion, I will append : 

 " Nature is man's best teacher. She unfolds 

 Her treasures to his search, unseals his eyes, 

 Illumes his mind, and purifies his heart, 

 An influence breathes from all the sights and sounds 

 Of her existence ; she is wisdom's self." 



FOREST AND RAIN-FALL. 



Address of Thos. Meehan Before the May 



Meeting of the Pennsylvania State Board 



of Agriculture. 



There is a maxim very good for myself as 

 well as gentlemen of your pursuit, good agri- 

 culturists, that a man does not know what he 

 can do until he tries. Speaking of good agri- 

 culturists reminds me that when it was an- 

 nounced that I should address you to-day on 

 rain-fall and forests, some of my friends ex- 

 pressed surprise that I should talk on such an 

 "abstract question" as this. How can it mat- 

 ter to a farmer of to-day if the forests are cut 

 away, if he can sow and reap, and if he can 

 gather the products of the soil ? In the lan- 

 guage of a certain distinguished individual we 

 might say, "Wliat has posterity done for me?" 

 Why should I care for posterity 'i For my 

 part, I can not assent to that view. I think 

 every great, every patriotic person, lias some 

 consideration for his posterity. I think that 

 many questions considered abstract and ab- 

 struse are not really so. More of these ques- 

 tions have a practical bearing on the present 

 than we suppose. They are not of so little 

 moment as many would make them. We have 

 suffered very much, in fact, through our in- 

 disposition to discuss little questions. Others 

 have benefited us by taking them up. For 

 instance, we now can cross the Atlantic in 

 ten or twelve days, when it took Uabot one 

 hundred days. Once it took a long time to 

 send messages from Washington to New 

 York; now they are transmitted in a few sec- 

 onds. Chiefly through Franklin's playing 

 with the kite, string and key, we accomplish- 

 ed this wonder. Through the experiment 

 with the tea kettle we have the locomotive. 

 It was through these little matters we have 

 got these practical workings. In regard to 

 this question of forestry and rain-fall, you 

 know what it is. It has been told in every 

 paper and magazine. There is the Desert of 

 Sahara, embracing four million square miles, 

 where rain never falls. In our desert of 

 America, extending along from Texas to 

 British North America, rain does not fall. 

 They say it is the clearing away of forests, 

 and that we are now sufiering from the devas- 

 tation and destruction of forests by some an- 

 cient people. I think we can show that that 

 desert was brought about not by the cutting 

 away of trees. We think that that is the re- 

 sult of sudden geological causes, and that 

 those sudden geological causes are continuous, 

 and that they have no reference to forestry in 

 any shape or form. Before, however, going 

 into that question, it would be as well to take 

 up frankly, or come down to little things, and 

 first explain what causes currents of water in 

 the atmosphere — consideration of moisture 

 before rainfall, and although it ma.y seem al- 

 most a common-place matter to refer to such 

 little things, yet I think it will enable us to 

 explain our position better by referring to 

 them. "Take a pitcher of cold water on a 

 warm day; moisture gathers on the outside of 

 the pitcher, and we commonly say that the 

 pitcher sweats, but it does not; it is simply 

 the moisture in the atmosphere which, being 

 warmer than the outside of the pitcher, causes 

 the water to condense. The same process is 

 going on over the surface of the globe. 

 Three-fourths of the globe is water, and the 

 average evaporation is about twelve thousand 

 pounds per square foot per annum. Of course. 

 In some places it is less, and in some more. 

 What becomes of this water ? It is taken 

 into the atmosphere, and when brought into 

 a cooler current it condenses and falls. In 

 regard to the circulation that causes the cur- 

 rents, take a bucket of water and put a stick 

 into it. The stick floats, not because of the 

 gravitation, but because the water is heavier 

 than the stick. The same principle prevails 

 if you take a kettle of boiling water. The up- 

 per surface is the hotter, and that forms a 

 continuous circulation, because the cooler 

 presses the warmer to the surface. Ii^ that 

 way there is a continuous circuit exhibited by 

 the changes in the specific gravity of the par- 



ticles. That is going on also in the atmos- 

 ])here just the same as in the kettle of water, 

 that which is warmest rises to the top. So 

 with the Gulf Stream. The warm water 

 of the tropics forces it upward. Thus there 

 is a continuous circuit toward the poles, 

 where it is cooler. Now we can begin to un- 

 derstand how it is that we get rain in some 

 parts of the world and it is dry in others. In 

 sea breezes there is a current of water all the 

 time to the land. The water which is changed 

 into cold vapor, of which I have spoken be- 

 fore, rushes in to take the place of other water 

 in that way. The warm water that makes 

 the vapor is all upon the surface of the earth, 

 is carried along until it comes in contact with 

 a colder surface, and produces rain. Now, as 

 to the American desert, which extends east- 

 wardly from the Rocky Mountains : The wa- 

 ter is drawn up from the Pacific ocean; the 

 cold or moist air of the Pacific is brought 

 in over these mountains from that direction. 

 It gives the prevailing easterly winds on that 

 side of the mountains. This vapor is carried 

 along until it reaches the top of the mountains. 

 When it comes in contact with these high 

 ridges it is condensed and become snow. 

 When there is any moisture in the current it 

 consequently becomes rain; but here it leaves 

 only a dry current to pass over it. It is only 

 two or three hundred miles this side that it 

 becomes moisture. From this moisture 

 which forms in that way we get another con- 

 dition, or area, which is continually watered 

 by rain from the clouds. You see, therefore, 

 that this snow or rainfall this side of the 

 Rocky Mountains, or more properly this side 

 of the Mississippi River, could not have been 

 caused if the RockyMountains were not where 

 they are, and it would be a matter of total 

 indift'erence whether forests were cut away or 

 not. It is a question wholly of currents with 

 these different parts. This tract of land, 

 which is now a desert, was once covered with 

 forest trees. If you dig down in Ilhnois or 

 Indiana, you find large beds of coal. Further 

 on, in Colorado and surrounding country, 

 which is now a desert, I have helped to dig 

 out what is called charcoal. I have dug up 

 trees. Some of these stumps, one of them es- 

 pecially, was twenty-four feet in circumference, 

 and others in proportion. These forest trees 

 existed at one time where now the country is 

 a barren desert. It shows that the whole 

 district was once covered with trees, and that 

 they were not cut away. These trees were 

 grown up when the whole range of Rocky 

 jNIouutains was thrown up in this way. That 

 this was done is shown not only by remains 

 of trees, but by large beds of fossil fish, which 

 exist some five or six thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea. Then there was no sifting 

 out of the vapor of the clouds, but the moist- 

 ure fell there in rain, just as it falls over other 

 surfaces of the globe; and the throwing up of 

 the hills afterwards makes this difference. 

 Some parts of the wovld have these sinking 

 parts as others arise. 



In regard to climate, no matter how small 

 may be a cause, it interrupts the regular work 

 of events, and a very small disturbance in 

 these conditions will cause a great change in 

 results. Thus a little rock will fall, and it 

 gradually turns out of its course in consequence 

 a small stream ; and having turned it out of 

 its course, in time something else changes and 

 the whole course is changed by a very little 

 circumstance. And so in nature ; and that is 

 the reason we think sometimes there are great 

 changes in the climate. Take for instance 

 the Polaris expedition, and its discovery of 

 an open sea in 1803. In 1875 when Captain 

 Murray's expedition went there, they found 

 this wliole tract covered with ice ; the ther- 

 mometer being from 55° to 0.5° in '05 ; then 

 he found it the whole season below the freezing 

 point. It is onl-y the condition of things that 

 come ; altering in a few years, and the circle 

 contimies to go and come. I think the best 

 illustration, perhaps, is the history of the 

 grape culture in England, which bears en the 

 change of the climate. We know that Eng- 

 land "at the present time is considered totally 



