45 



doe« an act Worthy of his country, and he Who cuts it down cotnmits a criilie 

 against his race. 



" Another important advantage," says J. T. Tliomas, "has been occasionally 

 afforded by the shelter of wood lands. It is well known, that rust in wheat is 

 commonly most preTalent on low and mueky lands ; yet at other times, and 

 in its most virulent form, it seems borne on the wind, and often destroys 

 thousands of acres on all kinds of soil, in one sweeping blight. An instance 

 of this sort occurred in northern Indiana in 1840. Early and late sown, on 

 compact and spongy soil, on hill and dale, cleared land and prairie, were all 

 alike affected. In every instance, however, where the crop was sheltered by 

 Wood land, it was leabt injured. An extensive farmer of Ontario countyj 

 Ifew York, informed me, some years ago, that out of two hundred acres of 

 ■promising wheat which he then had growing, all was completely destroyed 

 except ihoee portions sheltered by Woods ; the total loss being four or five 

 thousand dollars, most of which he believed would have been saved had his 

 land been protected by timber belts." 



There are farmers, not a few, in Wisconsin who will call to mind instances 

 of similar destruction of their wheat crops by a sudden spread of the rust 

 over their field ; and all their promising hopes blasted at once ; where they 

 expected thousands of wheat, they found only worthless straw, which they 

 were obliged to remove by the aid of fire. 



01* CUTTING TREES FOil WOOfl. 



The time of cutting trees as well as the number of trSes which may be 

 grown upon the acre, so as to procure the greatest quantity of wood from 

 the acre, in a given period of time, are points that cannot be definitely set^ 

 tied, so as to be equally applicable to all pieces of land, or to a.11 parts of the 

 same piece. 



If we take single trees fully established and growing rapidly, and examine 

 them some useful deductions may be made on this subjects Let our sample 

 tree be 12 feet high, and 4 inches around, or 1-J inches in diameter, making 

 an annual layer of i inch of Wood, then by counting the wood deposited on 

 the brd,nche8 and ends of the top as equal to the amount deposited on the 

 body of the tree, and we have tin annual deposit four inches widej on«-ha]f 

 inch thick, and 12 feet long, or two superficial feet of wood one inch in 

 thickness. Take another tree growing with the same rdpidity, but 60 feet 

 high and 16 inches in diameter, or 48 inches around, and the result of the 

 annual growth would bo a deposit 48 inches wide and 60 feet long, making 

 120 superficial feet one inch in thickness— an equivalent to the growth Of 60 

 trees 12 feet high — a number which would occupy four times the space oc 

 oupied by the sixty foot tree. Similar results will be found by a comparison 

 of other trees of different sizes. 



From these comparisons this rule may be deducted: Whenever trees 

 cease to lay on a greater amount of wood annually than would be laid on by 



