The true Democrat., 1857-04-07
Trees on INarmS

There IS no country richer in trees than America; their very superabundancc has pro- duced vague impression in the public mind that they are opportunities, very good for ma king lumber, rails, or frewood but nothing more. It seldom occurs to anybody that these cumberers of the ground fulfill an essential and important office in the economy of nature; that regions deprived of woodlands are exclusively barren wastes and deserts; that trees exert an equazng influence upon the climate that can only be appreciated by those who have travelled over tie burning sands of the desert, or braved the cold winds from the polar seas
 Every one knows who has been upon our western prariries.' that there the suns heat in summer is greater, and the winters cold more intense, than in the wooden countries in the same latitude even when not influenced by altitude or bodies of water Highly wooden countries, in low degree of latitude, are more lnhab!table, far as temperature is concerned. than many of those iu higher degrees that are dIvested of trees. Where arboreal vegitation Is abundant there Is always more or less mois- ture III the soil. During no period of the year IS the ground completely dry, so that it is evi- dent that thS class of plants does not extract more moisture from the soil than the smaller plants; while the shade which trees give hin- ders the evaporation produced by the direct so- lar rays.
 Cleared land always suffers first during the prevalence of drought where the drainage is equal on that and WOO ie,l. In the winter frosts do not penetrate so deep into the earth in woods as they do in the open clearing; the soil in the former remains soft, while that of the latter is ice bound for fcot or more-and this independent Of the layer of leaves and snow. The observation is a common one. that the woods are warmer in winter than the clear ingS; and during the whole year the tempera- ture ol the soil Is more lud in the farmer than the latter Tracts of barren land suffer the greatest extremes of temperature In the Ara bian desert, in summer, the burning simeon sweeps over the sandy plains; in winter, the cold northern winds do the same, covering the mountains and hills with snow. This is pecu- liary true of that portion, once the kingdoms of Assyra and Babylon.
 Trees have, 10 a certain extent, the same in- fuence as mountain ranges, in altering showers of rain; our own country is an example of this; in the valley of the Mississippi there are no extensive elevations of land; nothing to attract showers or condense clouds, with the exception of the trees. The Rocky Mountains on the west and the Aleghanes on the east, dry the winds from both these points by condensing the moisture they contain, so that this valley has to depend almost entirely up the south and north winds with few points of vria- ton, for the necessary amount of rain. Belts of trees running from east to west would no doubt intercept the moisture of these clouds. Nature has, to some extent, acted in this man. ner; the belts of timber upon our western prai ries, generally have this direction.
 In Europe, plantations of trees are consider ed quite essential for protecting the land and crops from sweeping winds; hedges have, in a lesser degree, the same effect. When we re- fleet that the inhabitants of countries with a less thermal range than our own. consider such