THE TREES OF AMERICA. 51 



while the soil is "literally being blown away," from the same cause. Mr. 

 Bryant has also furnished me with an interesting fact in our own country 

 which strongly illustrates my statements, and shows that every one is interested 

 in this investigation. 



" It is a common observation," says this correspondent, " that our summers 

 are becoming dryer, and our streams smaller. Take the Cuyahoga as an illus- 

 tration. Fifty years ago large barges loaded Avith goods went up and down that 

 river, and one of the vessels engaged in the battle of Lake Erie, in which the 

 gallant Perry was victorious, was built at Old Portage, six miles north of Albion, 

 and floated down the lake. Now, in an ordinary stage of the water, a canoe or 

 skiff can hardly pass down the stream. 



" Many a boat of fifty tons burden has been built and loaded on the Tuscarawas, 

 at New Portage, and sailed to New Orleans without breaking bulk. Now the 

 river hardly affords a supply of water at New Portage for the canal. The same 

 may be said of other streams — they are drying up. And from the same cause 

 — the destruction of our forests — our summers are growing dryer, and our 

 winters colder." Or perhaps it should be stated, the seasons are becoming sub- 

 ject to greater extremes of heat and cold — of dryness and moisture. Hum- 

 bolt says, " The clearing of a country of trees has the effect of raising the mean 

 annual temperature ; but at the same time greater extremes of heat and cold are 

 introduced." These very extremes are the great sources of mischief to vegeta- 

 tion, and also to the health of man and animals. I will add upon this point 

 the testimony of the Amencan Agriculturist. 



" Forest trees should be preserved for their beneficial influence upon the cli- 

 mate. It is universally conceded that the winters of the northern states are 

 colder " (subject to greater extremes) " than they were thirty or forty years ago, 

 and that the Aveather is more windy, fluctuating, and disagreeable. We are also 

 subject to severer droughts. Peaches once grew in abundance throughout Cen- 

 tral New York ; now it is almost impossible to raise them. The wheat and 

 some other crops are more uncertain. These facts are to be ascribed not so 

 much to the deterioration of the soil as to the destruction of our forests. For- 

 merly our farms had belts of woodland, which broke the force of the winter and 



