uSDtU 
mm 
ms?mm 
mam 
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KICK si CENTS, 
$2.50 PEL YEAR.I 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by tbe ltural PubliBhintf Company, in the office of the Librarian of CotiRreBB at Washington.] 
causes, the country is annually being stripped of 
its leafy garment with dangerous rapidity, and 
the time is probably not far distant when stern 
necessity will force cithor the General Govern¬ 
ment or tbe State Legislatures to check the evil, 
and regulate the felling of timber with some of 
the stringency uow practiced iu several Euro¬ 
pean countries. Meanwhile it behooves every 
land-owner, disposed providently to consult 
either his own interests or those of his descend¬ 
ants, to prevent, in part, thoovil results of this 
wholesale destruction of our forests by planting 
trees iu all suitable localities. 
It is a fortunate thing that more and more at¬ 
tention is giveu each year to this subject. In 
this connection the San Francisco Bulletin refers 
to the fact that largo masses of trees have a sal¬ 
utary climatic influence. In regions where for¬ 
ests are extensive, the severe extremes of heat 
and cold are rarely experienced. The climatic 
influences of trees seem to make themselves felt 
under exactly those conditions whero man most 
needs protection. In Northern Maine, where 
formerly there were immense and wide-extend¬ 
ing forests of pine, spruce and hemlock, which 
have now vanished before the axe of tho rapa¬ 
cious lumberman, the winters wore not so severe 
as those now experienced, while tho summers 
had few of those long heating and prostrating 
periods which are now of almost yearly occur¬ 
rence. 
In Europe great care is now being given to the 
preservation of old, and tho creation of new for 
ests. Iu Germany the question is taken up by 
the Government, and there are laws relating to 
the destruction of tho trees and tho growth of 
now forests. It has become necossary to enact 
new laws, in order to provent tho almost total 
disappearance of woodland. In England vast 
forests are preserved as parts of the estate of tho 
nobility, and there will bo little danger of their 
disappearance so long as English wealth aud 
pride remain as great and as strong as they aro 
to-day. But sometimes an heir comes iato pos¬ 
session of an incumbered estate—a condition 
brought on, perhaps, by his predecessors and 
perhaps by himself—aud to freo his patrimony 
from vexatious and pressing claims, ho cuts down 
and sells tho trees which had been tho growth of 
centuries, and had become the pride of bis an¬ 
cestors. 
In Franco great anxiety is i'elt to preserve tbe 
few forests which remain, and with oharaoteris- 
tio zeal, Frenchmen have studied the question of 
forest-growiug, showing its influence on climate 
and soil. Among tho moro interesting of these 
investigations aro those relating to the pine aud 
larch treos, each of which is a great promoter of 
fertility in the soil. It is claimed that the pine 
will grow on, and, in faot, naturally selects in¬ 
ferior soils, and soon raises them to a higher 
grade of fertility. Loose, sandy soil they render 
stable ; compact, clayey soil they pulverize, and 
by the desquamation of their leaves cover it with 
a thick mat, which furnishes fertilizing proper¬ 
ties, and retains the fallen moisture. In faot, 
they will create from mineral soil good alluvial 
laud. It is uflirmod that sheep and goats are 
as destructive to forest growth as the woodman’s 
axe, devouring and at last exterminating every 
shoot which would, In time, replace tho trees 
which might be cut down. Horses and cattle do 
not seem to be endowed with Uioho instincts 
which are so fatal to forest growth in tho case of 
the other animals, aud it is demanded that the 
goats and sheep shall be excluded from wood¬ 
land pasturage, and that if any animals are al¬ 
lowed to browse upon the tender shoots, it shall 
bo only cattle aud horses. 
Evon in tho early settled districts of this 
country it is not often that tho eye is delighted 
with such a beautiful pastoral scone as is here 
represented, whero the wide-eproading oak and 
the youthful chestnut cast a grateful shade 
from the noonday sun over tho resting sheep 
flock. Meanwhile tbe shepherd, conscious of 
the safety of his fleecy charge, whiles away the 
sultry hours in reading, miiHing, or some homely 
occupation. May the time be not far distant 
when such clumps aud charming vistas of shade 
and foliage shall add to the beauty, value and 
cheerfulness of every farm throughout the 
country l 
TREES ON THE FARM 
We have repoatedly urged upon our readers 
that they should plant trees, to beautify their 
lands, afford a beneficial shade to their stock, 
supply timber to themsolvos, and bequeath a val¬ 
uable possession to their descendants. It has 
been claimed, on strong presumptive evidence, 
that the disappearance of tho early race of Mound- 
builders in this country was, in part, at least, 
due to tho denudation of the land by the destruc¬ 
tion of forests, and iu tbe Old World vast dis¬ 
tricts are known to have been rendered sterile by 
a similar cause. Hero, tbe early settlers, mind* 
rul only of tbe difficulty of clearing their acres of 
treos, seem to have conceived a hatred of their 
presence, and cut them down with a reckless im¬ 
providence. Fences iu Europe are rarely made 
of wood, whereas here this is almost universally 
used with unwise extravagance in their construc¬ 
tion, thus wasting a great deal of what might 
become valuable timber. Tho railroads, too, are 
enormous consumers of our forests, and more¬ 
over, besides furnishing supplies for all our do¬ 
mestic needs, vast areas of these are yearly man¬ 
ufactured into limber and lumber for exportation. 
Owing to these, and a multiplicity of minor 
