40 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA t 
digious power, some few trees near the habita¬ 
tions should not be spared, whose foliage might 
afford a cooling shade during the parching heats 
of summer; and I have oftentimes expressed 
my astonishment that none were ever left for 
that purpose. In answer I have generally been 
fold, that they could not be left standing near 
a house without danger. The trees it seems 
in the American forests have but a very slen¬ 
der hold in the ground, considering their im¬ 
mense height, so that when two or three fully 
grown are deprived of shelter in consequence 
of the others which stood around them being 
cut down, they are very apt to be levelled by 
the first storm that chances to blow. This, 
• \ 
however, would not be tbe case witb trees of 
a small growth, which might safely be spared* 
and which would soon afford an agreeable 
shade if the Americans thought proper to leave 
them standing: but the fact of the matter is* 
that from the face of the country being en¬ 
tirely overspread witb trees, the eyes of the 
people become satiated with the sight of them,. 
The ground cannot he tilled, nor can the 
inhabitants support themselves, till they are 
removed; they are looked upon as a nuisance, 
and the man that can cut down the largest 
number, and have the fields about bis house 
most clear of them, is looked upon as the 
most industrious citizen, and the one that is 
