epiphites (which might be denominated inani¬ 
mate tramps), insects ?nd animals, but chiefly 
man himself. 
It is a pitiful story, that of the destruction 
of the forests of Spain. Madrid, its capital, 
was located on a beautiful plateau in the midst 
of a magnificent forest, well watered by large 
and numerous fresh-water lakes. The Span¬ 
iard, however, does not love trees, in fact, 
seems to hate them, seizing every opportunity 
to destroy them. The consequence is that 
the Madrid of to-day is a magnificent city, 
to be sure, but situated on a hot, parched, and 
barren waste, almost a desert, its lakes long 
since dried up, the springs, once in adjoining 
hills, exhausted, the water supply obtained at 
great cost from their distant Sierras. Other 
cities of southern Europe, through thought¬ 
less deforestation, are nearly as badly ofif, ow¬ 
ing to lack of shade and water. 
The Spanish explorers of the western con¬ 
tinent brought with them the bad custom of 
tree-destruction. The original city of the 
Montezumas was situated like Madrid in a 
lovely, picturesque, well-watered forest on the 
plateau of Anahuac. The Spaniards located 
their capital, Mexico, on the same site, and 
began at once the destruction of its surround¬ 
ing forests, and a second Madrid is the result. 
(The writer has seen in Arizona the Mexican 
turn off the trail and ride out several yards 
to strike his hatchet into a tree or cut down 
a young sapling wantonly. A Mexican sel¬ 
dom plants a forest tree.) 
California is quite like Italy as regards 
latitude, and is sometimes called New Italy, 
with its sunny, blue skies and equable ciimate. 
The effect from the destruction of Italy’s for¬ 
ests should sound the note of alarm. Ignore 
the subject as we may, the loss of the forests 
has a retroactive effect upon the people, and 
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