1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



369 



food, and the leaves, by means of the action 

 of heat and light upon them, transform, in 

 their mysterious way, these substances into the 

 materials of which the plant is composed. 

 And as these leaves annually fall to the earth 

 and finally decay, plant food is prepared to 

 be again taken into the tree. The soil which 

 is thus formed is kept from being carried 

 away by rains by the matting and interlacing 

 of the roots. There is scarcely a person, 

 who can fail to notico, as their attention is di- 

 rected to it, how soon an unprotected hill 

 loses its soil ; as every rain bears away a 

 portion, until in time it becomes a barren and 

 unsightly pile of rocks, with scarcely a sign 

 of vegetation upon its surface. 



Now, is not this precisely what is happening 

 all over New England ? Look where we may, 

 and the bare and frowning hilltops must re- 

 mind us that the fertility of former years is 

 fast wasting away. Year by year that thin 

 stratum of soil which hides its formation of 

 rock is becoming thinner. Those naked 

 ledges which are visible upon every mountain 

 summit are becoming more exposed. Every 

 rain which descends upon these hills, carries 

 away a portion of our home and our support ; 

 and although a small portion of it may be de- 

 posited upon the lower land of the valleys yet 

 the greater part of its fertilizing elements are 

 povired into the streams, and in their liquid 

 torrents it is borne to the vast and all-devour- 

 ing ocean. Yes, is it not our homes and our 

 support which are thus being carried off? For 

 are not our homes upon the rugged hills of 

 New England, and our support derived from 

 its soil ? 



Not only does the presence of forests im- 

 prove as well as protect the soil, but it modi- 

 fies and improves, and even more materially, 

 the climate. In the first place it renders a 

 climate more moist. This is accomplished in 

 the following manner : — as the clouds pass 

 over the country, laden with moisture and 

 charged with electricity, the forests serve as 

 conductors between these clouds and the earth, 

 thus leading them to discharge their contents 

 upon the face of nature. A few large trees 

 situated upon the top of a hill are sufficient to 

 bring about this effect, as is shown by the fact 

 that a charged cloud passing unbroken over a 

 bare hill will pour down its moisture when 

 passing over one on which a few of these nat- 

 ural conductors still remain. 



If a few tall trees are sufficient then to pro- 

 duce this desired effect, many will ask, "Whv 

 are these not enough to be withheld from de- 

 struction ? Why preserve the whole forest, 

 when a grove of well selected trees will an- 

 swer the demands for the same ?" They will 

 not ! Let iis loot a little farther. Suppose 

 this small number of trees will draw from the 

 cloud thus charged, its electricity, and as a 

 consequence, the moisture is precipitated. 

 As the rain descends upon the earth, it nat- 

 urally seeks the lowest level unless by some 



I means retarded or detained, and upon this 

 principle, it follows first the little undulations 

 and furrows in the ground, until in time it 

 joins still other rills, until swelling and widen- 

 ing as it goes, it reaches a brook. This in 

 time runs into a larger stream, and thus all 

 the streams are suddenly swollen and more or 

 less damage is certain to follow. It has 

 rained, but all the moisture is gone, and na- 

 ture soon will be as dry and parched as ever. 

 The rain has fallen, but it has nearly as 

 quickly ran into the sea. 



Now let us look at another picture. In- 

 stead of these few trees spread about upon 

 the summit of these hills, all the hill tops are 

 covered with forests. Now as the rain falls, 

 instead of running off into the streams, it stjt- 

 tles under the decaying leaves and vegetable 

 mould, until it comes to the entangled and 

 twisted mass of roots which support these 

 trees. This mass acts precisely like an enor- 

 mous sponge, and in its cavities the rain is re- 

 tained to feed the springs, and thus to water 

 the earth for many months. Thus instead of 

 hurrying away, carrying destruction with it, 

 the water is retained by the forest to moisten 

 and refresh all nature, "when the sultry days 

 of summer are upon the face of the earth." 



From the sterility and barrenness of some 

 parts of modern Spain, no one would ever 

 judge that she was once numbered among the 

 most fertile territories of the world, that 

 those bare and naked cliffs and slopes, on 

 whose frowning faces scarcely a living thing 

 is seen, were once covered with lofty forests, 

 and beneath their branches "murmuring rivu- 

 lets ran joyous to the sea." Yet this is never- 

 theless true. She w.is once the pride of her 

 inhabitants and the envy of her neighbors. 

 But by thoughtless hands her hills were 

 stripped of their forest protection, and with 

 their destruction the fertility of Spain de- 

 parted. And even to the letter New England 

 is following in her footsteps. It is by no 

 flight of imagination that I paint to you this 

 dark and foreboding picture ; but it is drawn 

 from the bare page of fact. From the history 

 of Spain, therefore, take warning. It is the 

 work of several centuries to carry this deteri- 

 oration past restoration, but if not checked it 

 is sure to come sooner or later. 



There are many other uses of the forest, 

 such as the protection of the country from the 

 violence of winds, retaining warmth in Avinter 

 and excluding heat in summer, furnishing 

 building material for ships and houses, which 

 are of great importance but which the want of 

 space must forbid me from more than men- 

 tioning. Yet as they are the more commonly 

 thought of, and best understood of these nu- 

 merous points alluded to, their importance is 

 more readily seen. 



And now, as we close this article on the 

 uses of the forest, there is one more point on 

 which, as a plea for the lovers of all that is 

 beautiful in nature, we cannot refrain from 



