298 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



country. These woods must, in all cases, act 

 more or less as a sponge in retaining the water 

 which falls on them ; and water must thus be 

 supplied more gradually to the rivers, in coun- 

 tries covered with wood, than in countries which 

 are cleared. The influence of forest scenery in 

 increasing the moisture of the atmosphere, and 

 in preventing a climate from being so hot in sum- 

 mer and so cold in winter, as it would otherwise 

 he, is now well understood. Trees modify both 

 the temperature and moisture of the atmosphere; 

 they are all-important as shelter, by checking the 

 force of the wind, as well as being condensers of 

 asmo spheric vapor, and affording both man and 

 beast a grateful shade from the scorching rays of 

 the sun. 



If trees were taken from the streets, lanes and 

 yards our of New England villages, what equivalent 

 could be introduced to supply their places as ob- 

 jects of usefulness and beauty ? What art of man 

 could devise a substitute ! What, to meet the scan- 

 ning eye, or watchful ear ! How utterly poor and 

 powerless would all our attainments prove to sup- 

 ply this defect ! What traveller, seeking recrea- 

 tion and rest, would take his family to a treeless 

 village ! Our people are now appreciating the 

 value of trees, and their influence upon both mind 

 and matter. From some eminence our villages 

 have the appearance of a forest. The smoke curls 

 up from among waving branches, and the church 

 spire looks out from among green leaves, while 

 the tones of the church bell, so familiar to every 

 New England ear, roll away to the hillsides, mel- 

 lowed and subdued by the blossoms and foliage 

 of our village trees. Bonaparte was once walk- 

 ing upon the terrace at Malmaison, and was deep- 

 ly affected by hearing the evening bells of Ruel. 

 "If such is their efl"ect upon me," he said, "what 

 must it be with others ?" 



What son of a New England village ever wan- 

 dered into the wide world, and forgot his New 

 England church, and minister, and village trees ! 

 Some, alas, may have forgotten them for a time, 

 but the impression of them made in youth, can 

 rarely be eff'aced from the mind. The kind and 

 earnest words of a faithful teacher to the young 

 heart, will bear him in remembrance in all after 

 life, whether in the quiet seclusion of life, or on 

 burning sands, or stormy seas. Thousands in 

 these villages will say with the estimable Fuller, 

 "Our minister lives sermons — he is ever as hos- 

 pitable as his estate will permit, and makes every 

 alms two by his cheerful giving it. He loveth to 

 live in a well repaired house, that he may serve 

 God therein more cheerfully, and lying on his 

 death-bed, he bequeathes to each of his parish- 

 ioners his precepts and examples for a legacy, and 

 they in ret[uital erect every one a monument for 

 him in their hearts." 



We receive many letters from the sons and 

 daughters of New England now residing in the 

 West, but rarely one that does not show a yearn- 

 ing for the hill and stream land of their birth. 

 They seem to say : 



"Though not from crowded streets I came, 

 Methought 'twas long since I had round me seen 

 Such true repose ; though not oppressed with grief 

 More than time brings to all, I deeply felt 

 'Twas a heart-healing land. The country there 

 Seemed God's own country, for the use of man 

 Intended: ***** 



Woods for his health and pastures for his board." 



The thoughtful farmer will pardon us for ^gom- 

 ing up from the furrows for a few minutes to stay 

 among the trees. He will remember that one is 

 as essential to his prosperity as the other, and 

 that both are the gift of an ever watchful and be- 

 neficent Being. We pray him also to ponder 

 well the blessings which come with this hay month, 

 fervid, busy JuLT. 



HOOTS— THEIB EFFECT OK" SOILS. 



Most plants throw their roots over a great depth 

 in disintegrated subsoils ; indeed, where soils are 

 imderdrained and subsoil plowed, after their re- 

 moval they leave in. the soil an amount of roots 

 nearly or quite equal to the crop removed, and 

 the portion percolating the subsoil and decaying 

 in place, furnishes new conditions capable of lib- 

 erating from the subsoil many elements which 

 have been before inert. 



The joint action of atmosphere and moisture, 

 together with carbonie acid and other fertilizing 

 gases, all circulating the more freely through pas- 

 sages where roots have decayed, and which by 

 their decay have furnished the necessary ingredi- 

 ents, requires but the action consequent upon the 

 presence of these constituents, assisted by the 

 roots of a living organism, i. e., the next crop, to 

 insure the solution of new quantities of mineral 

 matter from the subsoil. Portions of the mineral 

 matter so liberated, are elevated into the surface- 

 soil, and there deposited, as excrementitious mat- 

 ter thrown off by vegetables, and with the decay 

 of roots thus enrich the surface-soil ; and this is 

 also assisted in degree by capillary attraction. 



Some have argued that this continual uprising 

 of matter toward the surface-soil, consequent up- 

 on the continuous decomposition in the subsoil, 

 must eventually denude the subsoil of its more 

 valuable portions ; but it must be remembered 

 that the new conditions prodtlced are such as 

 continually to cause the liberation of new quanti- 

 ties, and that the entire soil being deepened, pre- 

 sents a greater area of surfaces of particles to be 

 acted upon by atmospheric and other influences. 

 To avoid using the material is like husbanding 

 perishable articles until they become worthless. 



The roots of a currant crop often extend four 

 or five feet in length. Even the common onion 

 has roots eighteen inches long, the lucern and 

 other clovers by the decay of their roots, perco- 

 lating deeply into the soil, deposit carbon in place 

 of mineral matter which they take up ; part to be 

 returned to the soil by the decay of roots, and 



