20 FOREST PLANTING. 



losses caused by devastating the head waters of that 

 stream at the summits and slopes of tlie Adirondacks. 

 The destructive methods of forest exploitation with us 

 are felt by the increasing abrupt changes of cold and 

 heat, and of dry and wet spells. Forests retain much 

 longer the humidity received in the shape of rain, snow, 

 dew, etc, than the open fields, and they, therefore, pro- 

 mote the frequency of showers when a current of moist 

 air strikes them. Owing to this peculiarity we justly 

 consider the forests as equalizers in the distribution of 

 rainfall during the seasons, and, as the fury of the violent 

 winds which cause the abrupt changes of temperature 

 can only be broken by a mass of elastic trees, we cannot 

 deny that woods located either on the plains or moun- 

 tains are the only means to mitigate the sudden changes 

 from heat to cold.* 



But the most beneficial influence is exercised by the 

 forests to the neighboring territoiy, as their capability of 

 receiving great quantities of moisture, and retaining 

 them by protecting the soil against swift evaporation, 

 renders them the most reliable reservoirs for the water 

 in the subsoil, an element of the greatest importance for 

 a successful pursuit of agriculture. It is a fact that 

 wherever large tracts of woods have been cut down, the 

 level of the ground water has been lowered sometimes to 

 ten inches and more, and by that the cultivation of 

 many plants which formerly thrived in such places has 

 been made impossible. Clover, for instance, was raised 

 in ancient times in Greece. After the country became 

 denuded of forests, the culture of clover, requiring a 

 moist atmosphere, had to be abandoned, and passed from 



* Unfortunately our principal mountains extend from north to 

 south. If they ran from ea^t to west, we should have a climate 

 such as Italy enjoys, as the most troublesome winds come to us from the 

 northwest, aj^ainst which the present formation of our mountains offers 

 no protection. 



