404 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



that the ehn was grateful to the grape vine, and therefore called 

 it the husband of the vine. The grape vine and the elm accom- 

 panied each other to England. Every farmer should select the 

 poorest part of his farm and plant it with the locust, or some tim- 

 ber tree, and he will not fail with reasonable care and experience 

 to produce an ample return for capital and time. The fact cannot 

 be denied that the American forests are being destroyed with great 

 precipitancy. Those coming after us, will feel the want not only 

 of timber, but water, as it has been found that when forests are 

 cut off springs and water courses dry up. In India streams now 

 dry in November that formerly flowed until April ; this is attri- 

 buted to the destruction of forests, that once crossed hills now 

 bare and desolate. The people of Pinary have memorialized gov- 

 ernment against the destruction of forests, on the ground that by 

 so doing their climate will be ruined. The excessive droughts that 

 now annually visit the Cape De Verd islands, are due to the de- 

 struction of the forests, and where trees have been cut down in 

 Greece, the springs have disappeared. Trees shade the soil from 

 the sun, they give off vapor during the day, and so moderate the 

 heat, while they obstruct the direct rays from above, and occasion 

 the precipitation of dew. 



The reason that so many thousand trees that are set out annu- 

 ally die, is that Ihey are taken up carelessly and denuded of the 

 small fibres and rootlets, upon which they depend for their sup- 

 port, as it is through these that tlie requisite fluids are communi- 

 cated to the stem. The fibres are found at the extreme end of the 

 principal roots, remote from the trunk, and are generally left on 

 the ground from whence the tree was taken, they consequently 

 wilt and die, notwithstanding they have been well pruned and 

 skilfully treated. No man should undertake to plant a tree unless 

 he has judgment enough to know the character of the tree he de- 

 sires to move ; some have roots similaj." to a sponge, and contain 

 water enough in store to subsist on until the proper fibres are 

 grown to sustain them, such for instance as that curse of our 

 country, theailanthus, which is a greater nuisance than the Canada 

 thistle, and never could be sold until the importer called it the 

 tree of heaven, and raised the price from one shilling to one dol- 

 lar each, by which scheme he made six thousand dollars in one 

 year — the paulownia imperialis, willow, catalpa, and half a dozen 

 poplars. 



A dozen maples, half a dozen evergreens, the ash and horse 

 chestnut roots are very thick and fleshy, and contain considerable 

 moisture, enough in fact to sustain them through much dry weather 



