A Woman's Plea for Trees 



Miss E. Bowers, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. 



Forest Conservation is not going to be 

 left entirely to the men. In the UnitoJ 

 States the women have greatly helped ami 

 from the beginning women ha\e been 

 members of the Canadian Forestry Associa- 

 tion. The following synopsis of an ad- 

 dress by Miss E. Bowers before the Wom- 

 en 's Institute of Bridgewater. Nova Scotia 

 shows how some women are working: 



"Most of my life as a teacher has been 

 passed in country sections, and my liome 

 for many years was a farm. 



'"I ehaiueil to hold si-hools in sections 

 where there was very beautiful scenery. 

 Varied inlluences caused me to take up, 

 whole-heartedly, Nature Study, as we term 

 it in our school curriculum. Fast following 

 the nature student period, one finds oneself 

 a nature lover, and to be a nature lover 

 denotes real interest, a fondness for flow- 

 ers, for bin], for forest habitant, for every 

 babbling brook and jtlacid lake, and for 

 every tree. 



"During the latter terms of my service 

 in the country, I lost no opportunity to 

 impress upon my pupils the wisdom of con- 

 ser<'ing our forests. Outside of school I 

 placed a plea — as chance offered, and at 

 public examinations, I always gave a les- 

 son on trees. But all this was little. One 

 may say, I myself was but awakening to 

 the importance of the subject. Besides I 

 had no technical knowledge of the great 

 principles of forestry — trimming, culling 

 and replanting. Then there was lacking 

 the great spirit of co-operation to produce 

 any results. 



"Now, I think this Institute could, and 

 should arouse some enthusiasm in the pre- 

 servation of our woodlands. And why 

 should our association be interested? 



"Because, scarcely a better medium 

 could be found to influence the rising gen- 

 eration of land owners, than the women of 

 the farms, and the rural school teachers. 

 <'onstantly the press sends out warnings 

 of the dire consequences following a des- 

 truction of the forests. It is an oft- 

 repeated lesson to state that forests are a 

 prevention of destructive winds, irregular 

 rainfalls, terrible floods, and so on. 



"The value of forests in relation to 

 water su|)ply is not that they cause preci- 

 pitation, but that they jiroviile natural 

 reservoirs for the storage of water after it 

 has fallen, and that by giving it out gradu- 

 ally, they regulate and equalize the flow of 

 streams. 



"Clearing the land about the sources 

 and upi'cr reaches of a river has a disas- 

 trous effect upon the river. It is a prin- 

 ciple of nature: no forests, no waterways. 

 Floods in China and in treeless districts 



of Kurope and the I'nited States afford 

 striking examples. 



"Our neighbors in the Uuiteil States are 

 keenly feeling the result of the vandalism 

 that swept their country, where the mis- 

 use of this great natural jiroduct has re 

 suited in all sorts of losses. 



"Latest statistics j)rove, also, that the 

 productive j)0ssibilities of much of their 

 f.'-ii.ing laud has been ruined by the loss 

 of surface springs, following the destruc- 

 tion of forests. This loss of surface springs 

 brings it very close to everyday farming. 

 Scientific farming primarily entails that 

 knowledge which can combat conditions 

 arising from this fatal error, this wanton- 

 ness of the early settlers. 



"Present clay farming with its schemes 

 of tillage, subsoiling and irrigation, delays 

 the loss of production on account of the 

 ilisappearance of this invaluable circulat- 

 ing .system. But the great remedy re- 

 mains — reforestation. 



"Frequently an alarm cry goes forth 

 through the pages of some magazine or 

 newspaper that should teach Canadians to 

 check the ruthless onslaught of the axe 

 and the saw. 



"But these warnings are received by 

 most much as the little child accepts the 

 terrors of the buga-boo: very dreadful — 

 but, perhaps, nothing in it. 



"Canadians should conserve their won- 

 derful forests, a source of great wealth. 

 It is said that the comparative value of 

 Canadian forests is three times that of all 

 its mineral wealth, and ten times its gold 

 and silver output alone. The wondrous 

 uses to which wood is applied forces it 

 ever in immense quantities uj)on the mar- 

 ket. 



"England alone imports 3.50,000 tons of 

 ready-pre]>ared pul]i for newspapers only. 

 And it takes for one day for newsitapers 

 for the city of Lomlon about 400 tons of 

 white paper, made from juilp which de- 

 notes some hundred cords of wood per day 

 — that in turn denoting an average weekly 

 destruction of very many acres of the 

 forests. 



"It is a lamentable fact that, to dis- 

 seminate the knowledge that the forests 

 are a source of great wealth, seems but to 

 implant a sj>irit of greed which is the 

 direct influence leading to their destruc- 

 tion. 



"But why kill the goo.se that lays the 

 golden eggs? The farmer must learn the 

 great jirinciples of trimming and culling 

 his trees and also the necessity of reforest- 

 ing and afforesting. He must look upon 

 the woodlot as first aid to preservation of 



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