BELTS, CIRCLES, ETC. 



129 



denied that a recklessness in cutting away and sweep- 

 ing off every vestige of the forest, in some cases 

 where it might be beneficially left, is too often the 

 case; but when we reflect that the main object is 

 to bring the forest lands under immediate cultivation, 

 and that such cultivation can not succeed under shade, 

 and among a mass of living roots, lying mostly near 

 the surface, such as original forest trees usually pre-" 

 sent, it need be no cause of surprise that the pioneer, 

 looking only to his bread, and the future support of 

 his family, should clear his lands of every impediment 

 to so desirable an end. In point of utility, he is en- 

 tirely right. For cultivation alone, in its most profit- 

 able result, a field should never have a tree nor a 

 shrub within it. Pastures, only, require them ; and it 

 is a subject of discussion still, with graziers and stock 

 farmers, whether shade trees are at all beneficial to 

 the growth and thrift of cattle — the subject of taste, 

 or embellishment to the land, by the presence of trees, 

 being excluded. Our forests are composed of trees 

 thickly set, and drawn up to great heights, with bare 

 stems, small, slender tops, and roots widely spreading 

 near the surface of the ground. A continual struggle 

 for supremacy has existed with them, ever since they 

 grew at all, and each tree striving with all its might 

 to overtop its neighbor, and shoot up into the light and 

 sun, which are indispensable to their existence. A 

 part of the forest being cut away, and sun, and air, 

 and their drying influences admitted, many of the 

 border trees of the standing forest sicken and die 

 from the absence of their usual moisture; others -are 

 prostrated by the violence of the winds which now 

 break in upon them through the clearings ; and even 



