28 
easily sweeps away every vestige of soil and leaves only the bare roéks 
as the basis of agriculture and the sources of streams. The soil thus 
carried away chokes up the streams and finishes the work of destroying 
their navigable character, which was so surely begun when the disap- 
pearance of the forests changed their broad and equable currents into 
mountain torrents. 
Forests, moreover, have a powerful influence upon the sanitary con- 
ditions of life, owing partly to their effect on temperature and moisture, 
and partly to their effect on the purity of the atmosphere. Careful ob- 
servations have proved that if the moisture of the atmosphere rises 
above or falls below a given degree certain diseases become more prev- 
alent and fatal. Forests act as regulators to diminish excessive and to 
increase insufficient moisture. The beneficial influence of pine forests 
on pulmonary diseases is universally recognized. 
In a word, then, the forests are an absolute necessity. If we would 
have the advantages referred to, with many others not discussed, we 
must have the forests nearus. Mild winds, humid atmosphere, equable 
climate, regular rivers, a flourishing agriculture, an expanding industry, 
are things we can not import, and they are all things which depend for 
the very possibility of their existence on the presence of forests, and 
extensive forests, within the bounds of our own country and distrib-— 
uted where they will do most good. a, 
The experience of the race and the investigations of science agree in 
testifying that there is a certain ratio which the forest land of any given 
country (varying of course with the country and even with different 
parts of it) should bear to its other lands, and that if the forested re- 
gion is allowed to sink below that ratio, either through carelessness or 
a selfish desire to get all the advantage out of the resources of a coun- 
try for the present generation, regardless of the interests of posterity, 
the result can be only an impaired industry and declining prosperity. 
Even if alltheland of a country were good agricultural land, the plan 
of clearing it entirely off in order to put it under cultivation would be 
strikingly like the old folly of killing the goose that laid the golden egg; 
for not only would no increased yield of agriculture oecur as the result 
of such a policy, but a greatly-decreased return would probably be the 
result, diminished to the lowest point and ending in the utter destruc- 
tion of agricuiture and all other industry in one common ruin. 
The importance of forests then for the national welfure being admit- 
ted, the question remains to be considered, What is the condition of our 
forests, and what action should be taken in their behalf? It must suffice 
in regard to this to refer to the facts contained in the various census 
reports, the bulletins of the Department of Agriculture, and the numer- 
ous other publications in which the past condition, present state and 
future prospects of our forests are discussed. ‘The evidence is ample 
and conclusive that we are making fearful inroads on our forest stores. 
We are cutting off a much larger crop than can possibly be replaced by 
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