FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 



smaller plants — so long as their root 

 systems are not too dense and intricate 

 — are of value on account of their ame- 

 liorative effects on temperature and 

 moisture. This is more important in 

 this country, so extreme in its climatic 

 variations, than in northern Europe. 

 In the dry and parching days of sum- 

 mer the shrubbery of the woods, by 

 its shade, helps to keep the earth cool 

 and moist. This mantle of the earth, 

 moreover, conducts the rain more grad- 

 ually to the soil, exercising an efficient 

 economy. In the fall and winter the 

 shrubs, which are densest near the for- 

 est border, help to break the force of 

 the sweeping winds which might other- 

 wise carry away the fallen leaves, so 

 useful in their turn because they are 

 conservators and regulators of mois- 

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