180 THE USE OF WOODS 



follows, from these facts, that a too great expansion of 

 woods, as well as their removal, has its limits. The geo- 

 graphical position of Panama, lying in the neighborhood 

 of two oceans, shows that good effects will result from the 

 clearing of its dense sun-excluding forests and the thorough 

 cultivation of its soil ; for its marshes and malaria will dis- 

 appear and its climate improve. 



Eut where the country is not situated near seas or oceans, 

 and the climate is continental, then man must be careful, in 

 cutting down the woods, not to transgress the limits which 

 ISTature has prescribed. Where there are mountains, the 

 woods must be, allowed to stand, for they cannot be 

 removed without the most pernicious consequences. 



The relative dependency subsisting amongst the different 

 plants of a landscape, and their relation to the soil, can only 

 be understood by a reference to first principles. A wood, 

 through the roots of its trees," as well as by its thick moss 

 or grass covering, binds together the soil on the declivities 

 of the mountains, and thus in the most natural and simple 

 manner strengthens them. If we take the wood away, the 

 springs are dried up, and the moss or grass covering dis- 

 appears. The power of the rain, no longer broken by 

 millions of leaves and by the grassy mantle, comes down 

 in unrestrained violence, and the loose soil torn from the 

 mountain side is carried down into the subjacent valleys. 

 Here it settles as sand and mud, which fills up the brooks 

 and rivers, and renders their waters turbid, so that they 

 overflow their banks and inundate the plains. This sand 

 and mud is left on the grass-covering of the plains when 

 the storm subsides, and the waters return to their accus- 

 tomed channels. But every farmer knows that crops of 

 hay raised on meadows frequently inundated, are worth- 

 less as food for cattle. At length, in the course of years, 

 these swampy pastures become overspread with sand ; the 

 former riches and prosperity. of the inhabitants slowly dis- 

 appear, and the once happy valley becomes uninhabitable. 



But this is not all. The whole landscape gradually 

 changes, an entirely new plant-covering is produced, and, 



