184 DEATH OF THE TREE FOtrNBE© OK 



wMch loosening on the lofty Alpine summit, comes thun- 

 dering with gradually accumulating power down the 

 mountain-side, and spends its fury on the crashing but 

 conquering forests of hardy Coniferee. 



In America we are in danger of losing sight of the utility 

 of the woods. We want the land which they cover for 

 agricultural purposes, we look on them as an incumbrance 

 on the soil, and their cutting down is a mere question of 

 cents and dollars. Witness the disgraceful vandalism which 

 felled the noble Sequoias of California. Hence, the woods 

 are disappearing on all sides, and this, too, on the most 

 ibrmidable scale. 



But it is plain that other considerations ought to enter 

 into our calculations as to the removal of a woods, besides 

 its mere value as timber. If we remove trees from the 

 mountain-side, from a low sandy coast, or from an inland 

 district only scantily supplied with water, there is no end 

 to the mischievous consequences which will ensue. By 

 such ignorant work as this, the equilibrium in the House- 

 hold of Ifature is fearfully disturbed, and her wise and 

 beneficent arrangements for our own good are completely 

 frustrated. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE DEATH OF THE TREE IS FOUNDED ON AN INNER LAW OF ITS 

 ORGANISM, AND IS NOT THE RESULT OF ACCIDENTAL CAUSES. 



We have, in the preceding chapters, traced the develop- 

 ment of the tree, from! the first appearance of life in the 

 germinating seed, till the period when it arrives at an 

 adult state, so as to be capable of flowering and reproduc- 

 tion. But this history would be incomplete if we did not 

 consider trees in the decline of life, and review those 

 causes which produce their old age, decay, and the ulti- 

 mate dissolution of the several parts of their fabric. 



