LVI 



SPARE THE TREES 



ALL the protection that the law can 

 give will not prevent the game naturally 

 belonging to a wooded country from 

 leaving it when it is deforested, nor keep 

 fish in waters that have shrunk to a 

 quarter of their ordinary volume before 

 midsummer. The streams of such a 

 country will thus shrink when the moun- 

 tains, where the snows lie latest and the 

 feeding springs are, and the swamps, 

 which dole out their slow but steady 

 tribute, are bereft of shade. The thin 

 soil of a rocky hill, when deprived of its 

 shelter of branches, will be burned by 

 the summer sun out of all power to help 

 the germination of any worthy seed, or 

 to nurture so noble a plant as a tree 

 through the tender days of its infancy. 

 It supports only useless weeds and 

 brambles. Once so denuded, it will be 

 unsightly and unprofitable for many 

 281 



