10 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[Jannary, 



quires continual sweeping to remove the 

 worm castings, which otherwise would soon 

 rebury it. A large number of analogous ex- 

 cavations described in this volume demon- 

 strates liow considerable a part worms have 

 played in the concealment of Roman and 

 other old buildings in England, although no 

 doubt, the washing down of soil from neigh- 

 boring higher lands and the deposition of dust 

 have largely co-operated in the work of burial. 

 It is plain enough, from the data collejted 

 in this book, that worms have played a more 

 important part in the history of the world 

 than most persons would imagine. Few of 

 us, indeed, when we behold a wide, turf- 

 colored expanse, are aware that its smooth- 

 ness, on which so much of its beauty depends, 

 is mainly due to all the inequalities having 

 been slowly leveled by worms. It is a mar- 

 velous reflection that the whole of the super- 

 ficial mould over any such expanse has passed 

 and will again pass every few years, through 

 the bodies of worms. The creatures which 

 exercise so important a function iu the phy- 

 sical economy are poorly provided with sense 

 organs, for they cannot be said to see, al- 

 though they can just distinguish between 

 light and darkness ; they are completely deaf, 

 and have only a feeble power of smell ; the 

 sense of touch alone is well developed. It 

 may well be questioned whether there are 

 many other animals which have played a more 

 considerable part in the history of the earth 

 than have these lowly organized beings. Some 

 other animals, however, still more lowly or- 

 ganized — namely, corals, have done even 

 more conspicuous work by constructing in- 

 numerable reefs and islands in the great 

 ocean, but these are almost wholly confined 

 to the tropical zones. 



SPARE THE TREE. 



No subject is of graver import to the future 

 of this continent than the protection and pre- 

 servation of its forests. Sir Samuel Baker, 

 who recently returned from a hunting expedi- 

 tion in the Big Horn country of Wyoming, 

 said that the extensive and wanton burning 

 of the Rocky mounlaiu woodlands was an 

 evil of such magnitude that he was astonished 

 to find hundreds of square miles iu a blaze, 

 carrying on the march of devastation until 

 quenched by a heavy rain-fall or prrested by 

 the high mountain tops above the timber-line. 

 The reckless miners and thoughtless hunters, 

 traders and travelers, who are responsible for 

 this prodigious waste, bid fair to convert fer- 

 tile valleys and copious river sources into arid 

 deserts and dried-up gulches. 



It is a well-known law that forest destruc- 

 tion of a wholesale character diminishes rain- 

 fall, and eventually banishes it altogether. 

 Hence the anxiety of the more enlightened 

 governments to save their native and primfeval 

 timber intact, knowing that its reproduction 

 and preservation are the life's blood of the 

 country itself. What will be the ultimate re- 

 sult, judging from evidences of the East V 

 Our rich Western regions will become gradu- 

 ally parched ; brooks and streams will die out 

 forever ; important feeders of a great river 

 system will become extinct, lowering the 

 level perhaps of such a channel as the Mis- 

 sissippi river, and one word will be written 

 across the face of the country — desolation. 



That this is no exaggeration may be under- 

 stood from the fact that it was recently re- 

 ported at the annual meeting of the Geo- 

 graphical society of Vienna by Councilor 

 Wex, that tlie Volga is decreasing in volume, 

 owing to the destruction of wood in its valley, 

 so as to materially affect the level of the Cas- 

 pian Sea and the Sea of Aral. It is apparent 

 therefore, that the most vital question in con- 

 nection with that wonderful domain beyond 

 tiie Rocky mountains is the preservation of its 

 forests. As long as it is possible for one ad- 

 venturer to build his camp fire in the wood 

 and leave it to the mercy of the wind^, thus 

 laying waste what would be a respectable 

 county ill our commonwealth, this destruc- 

 tion and consequent physical disorder will go 

 on. Appropriate legislation sternly executed 

 is only a partial remedy. The science of 

 forestry, as studied and applied in the older 

 countries of Europe, must be introduced and 

 cultivated here. 



In nearly all of the countries of the Old 

 World forestry, in connection with climat- 

 ology, geology and kindred branches, is 

 taught ill nearly all the universities, and the 

 several governments take an especial interest 

 in expert graduates in this branch. Particu- 

 larly is this true, curiosly enough, in coun- 

 tries where is the largest proportion of wood- 

 land, as in Russia, Sweden, Germany and 

 Austria. The lowest occurs in Great Britain, 

 Denmark, Spain and Holland. Over forty- 

 two per cent, of the acreage of Russia is 

 forest, while Britain has but a little over 

 three per cent. In Germany more attention 

 is given to arboriculture than in any other 

 western power. 



America, of all quarters of the world, is the 

 most thickly wooded with the primeval forest, 

 and was of vast extent and contained a great 

 variety of species, covering, with insignifi- 

 cant exceptions, all that portion of our conti- 

 nent which was occupied by the colonists ; 

 but now it is d'lubtful, according to the very 

 best authorities, if any State of the Union, 

 save Oregon, has more woodland than it 

 ought permanently to preserve. Our Eastern 

 and Middle States were at one time dense 

 forests, while now Pennsj'lvania alone has 

 presprved her timber. The other States are 

 compelled to send to Canada and the West to 

 supply their market. Our government, how- 

 ever, began early to perceive the danger of 

 indiscriminate forest felling. 



In 1817, and again in 1831, statutes were 

 passed to restrict spohation. Yet it may be 

 judged thai the woodland is largely suffering 

 when we remember that there are over .30,000 

 saw mills in the United States, nearly all 

 doing a flourishing business. In some States 

 special legislation provides for adequate pro- 

 tection, and in California, a State forester has 

 been appointed. The devastation in that 

 State has been enormous, and in Texas also, 

 where the supply of trees is totally inadequate 

 and where destructive tornadoes prevail, to- 

 gether with extensive fires. 



In view of ihe facts stated, it is plain that 

 intelligent and prompt action should be taken 

 by Congress to prevent further spoliation. 

 The absolute necessity is apparent in the not 

 encouraging fact that already over two-fifths 

 of the entire area of the United States is so 

 arid that even artificial irrigation cannot now 



redeem it ; indeed, west of the Mississippi, 

 owing to the forest fires largely, one-sixth of 

 the entire territory alone is susceptible to cul- 

 tivation. In Colorado, New Mexico, Ari- 

 zona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and 

 Montana, not one-fifth of the area can ever 

 be i-endered available, and it is doubtful with- 

 out expedients now unknown, if any of these 

 territories will support more than .300,000 

 people at a time ; and in Wyoming not over 

 5,000 square miles in the 100,000 square miles 

 of area can be termed arable land. 



The question then arises : What is the best 

 method of achieving practical results for the 

 preservation of whatever physical advantages 

 we possess in our national domain, and no in- 

 quiry of greater magnitude can be addressed 

 to the Forty-seventh Congress. — New York 

 Sun. 



LET THE FROST HELP YOU. 



Few fully appreciate how much a freezing of 

 the ground does to set at liberty the plant- 

 food looked up in almost all soils. Water, in 

 freezing, expends about one-eighth of its bulk, 

 and with tremendous force. Water, if con- 

 fined in the strongest rock and frozen, will 

 burst it assunder. The smallest particles of 

 soil, which are in fact only minute bits of 

 rock, as the microscope will show, if frozen 

 while moist are broken still finer. This will 

 go on all winter in every part of the field or 

 garden reached by the frost; and as most soils 

 contain more or less elements that all grow- 

 ing plants are crops need, a good freezing is 

 equivalent to adding manure or fertilizers. 

 Hence it is desirable to expose as much of the 

 soil as possible to frost action, and the deeper 

 the better, for the lower soil has been less 

 drawn ui)on and is richer in plant food. Turn 

 up the soil this month wherever practicable. 

 If thrown into ridges and hollows, in field 

 and garden, the frost will penetrate so much 

 deeper. Further, plowing or spading the soil 

 now exposes insects and weed roots to killing 

 by freezing. Still further, soils thrown up 

 .loosely will dry out earlier in spring, and ad- 

 mit earlier working, which is often a great 

 gain when a day or two may decide in favor 

 of a successful crop.— American Agriculturist. 



The great wheat exporters of Russia are 

 becoming alarmed at the tremendous compe- 

 tition they have to encounter. Hungary and 

 the Danubian principalities were the first to 

 appear in the Western markets, but the con- 

 struction of a railway to Odessa restored the 

 the equilibrium. Then the American compe- 

 tition uommenced, and has ruined the inhabi- 

 tants of the wheat-producing districts of the 

 Muscovite empire. Wheat is abundant in the 

 interior— more so than for many years past- 

 hut there is scarcely any communication with 

 the seaboard. The great military railways 

 run right through the country, but there are 

 few feeding lines. The roads and canals and 

 the core of the wheat in transport are in as 

 primitive state as when Russia had no com- 

 petitor in the field. If a prompt move is not 

 made by the government— which is scarcely to 

 be expected at present— Russian wheat will 

 soon be driven out of the Western markets by 

 United States enterprise and the new field 

 opening up in India. 



