Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-06-05
Mts
TRANSLATED FROM tho German for the Cincinnati Gazette.
THE FOR s 7 s.
ny DR.. KARI MULLER.

The vegetable carpet is something more than
n mechanical web, whose threads need only to be
counted in order to understand the composition Of
it's warn and woOf. The plant covering IL not IN.
correctly called the vegetable world. or tho vege'
tabl, kingdom, Ii is in truth n state in the king
dom of nature, distributed, like a state in the
realm of humanity, in distinctly marked aud man
fold communities. Amongst these communities
the forests take the first rank. In extent and
mass they are the largest groups, and as such pro.
duce the most distinct impression upon the land
scape, as we'll as upon the economy of nature
They may be Enthusiastically denominated the
regents of the plant state, Indeed this influence
IL so conspicous that we need only refer to it,
1t is the forests which show us most clearly that
the earth would be entirely uninbabitable, 1t
plants had not been endowed with the benefcent
popularity of grouping themselves into commu'
mites. Without this natural association, the life
of individual plants would stand in the most ex.
treme peril. But united they mutually protect
each other against storm and tempest, as well as
against the scorching beams OF the sun. How
exceedingly interesting these mutual good Offices
are, every reservation Of soil destined to the pro-
duction Of = forest will bear witness. Weeds and
grasses fret cover the ground of the reservation.
These give tho sunbeams access to the young
plants, but by their shade prevent them from
parching the soil, so as to endanger the life OF the
seedlings. Under the protection Of the smallest
member of the vegetable kingdom they shoot
upwards, in order that, when they shall have at
tanned the gigantic forms Of our forests, they
in their turn may undertake a like office for other
plants. Under their branches, the shaded earth
retains its moisture, to feed the lowly plants,
whose tender roots, unlike those of the trees them.
selves, are unable to derive their moisture from
the depths Of tho earth. Thus also they enable
the soil, at least in the more cool and temperate
zones, to cover itself with a moss carpet, which
retains the moisture still longer in itself, or per.
mits it slowly to ooze out, to replenish the wa,
ter basins of the bills. When @ rain cloud pours
its contents upon the forest, the leaves of the trees
retain the drops; and let them fall more slowly to
the earth, than they would descend from the at
mosphere. And finally, the moss carpet re.
ceives them, destined to keep the earth continually
saturated, since the branches of the trees prevent
O too rapid evaporation.
Two results follow. In the first place, the for
est soil is capacitated to produce fountains. In
the second, by the constant presence of moisture
in the woods, q perpetual evaporation takes
place, and thus a cooler temperature is secured.
The reports Of the French writer Blabqui, as
touching the effects produced by felling the forests
Of the Alps OF Provence, present O melancholy
picture. "ln our temperate latitudes," says he,
lone can form 70 adequate conceptions OF these
burning mountain ravinos where q bush no longer
exists to protect q bird where the traveller, in
summer, finds here and there a few withered law
ender stems where all the fountains are dried up,
and a mOurnful silence reigns, hardly broken by
the hum of an insect. All at once, when a thun,
d~er-storm bursts, the masses of water plunge
headlong from the mountain heights into these
wild and riven reservoirs. They desolate with
out watering, overflow without refreshing, and the
earth by their transit is made more barren than
it would be by their absence. AT last, man with
drew from these frightsul soiitudes. and in thu
present year [lS43l l have not found a single iiv
ing being in hamlets where thirty years ago
we'll remember to have been Hospitality entertain
ed. In q multitude of places not only are tn
trees destroyed, but also the under brush, the box
the broom, the heath, and the plants which til
Inhabitants were accustomed to use as fuel, as liz
ter, and consequently also as manure. The evil Ia
increased to such a degree that the proprietors 0
the still inhabited parts have been obliged to re
duce their stock Of cattle one-half, often thre
ffths, from the lack of proper nourishment. A
tho very time when their poverty was in
creasing with the destruction Of the for
ests, they found themselves compelled by tn
imposs;bility of finding nourishment for thei
sheep through the entire year to let their pasture
to the herdsmen of the Rhone districts, and eve
Of Piedmont" Some may think this description
an exaggeration. Unhappily it finds q confirms
tion of melancholy strength in the most recen
o~veraowings.of the Rhone and the Isere, in JUNE
1856-Hoods which buried Lyons and the neigh
boring country in an inland ocean.
Even Germany itself is not exempt from the sa
consequences which the destruction of forests en
tails. lnnumerable proofs Of this will presen
themselves in every excursion into the mountain
&Aot wv oPSNi III ~ LsiNoioh b1hiie
the Thuringian forest, the Erggebirge and tn
Eifel. The last has barely sustained the make,
life of It's inhabitants. An example from this re
gion places the Importance Of forests in a yer,
striking light. After the lead mines near Com
mern had been worked more than a century, tn
sand thus produced was covering the surrounding
plough-lands and pastures. The misery about t
be caused by the overflow of this sand'sea coul
not be overlooked. With a ~felicitous discernment
the forest commissioners checked the impendin
nnaa hu L ~ ~. D-A..Al
the same thing occurred on the gulf Of Gascony
The ocean sand overspread the adjacent lands an
threatened to make them utterly worthless an
uninhabitable. A French gentleman, however
named Bremontier conceived the clever idea
erecting an intrenchment in the form of q fores
He planted the sand,loving broom (Sarothamu
scoparius, )reared the young pines in its shad,
and thus arrested the progress of the sandlfooC
Something like this has been witnessed on the eel
coast of Germany. An example presents itself
the long, narrow sand bank, called the Nehrun,
which separates the Frische. Half from the Balti
and extends almost from Danzig to Pilla,
"Down to the middle ages says w. Alexis, 18th
Nehrung extended still further, and filled wit
sand the narrow passage near Lockstade.
a long pine forest kneaded and compacted th
down sand, and the heath stretching unbroke
from Danzig to Pillau. Upon a certain occasion
Frederick William |. stood in need of funds. !
gentleman named Van Korf, desirous of courtin
the kings favor, promised to procure for him th
needed money with government loans or taxes Orc
vided he should be permitted to put to use some
thing which at present was useless. Accordipei
he made inroads upon the Prussian forests. wbic
at that time possessed small value and in prosecu,
ing the work he stripped of its wood the entir
kehrung, as far as it belonged TO Prussia. As
financial operation, it succeeded perfectly. tn
king received his money. But in the operation
tho elements consequent upon it. the State is su
fering to the present day an irremidable injury
the sea winds sweep over the naked hills ; tb
Frische-Haff is half filed with sand toe seds
spreading luxuriartly far and wide threatens
create an enormous swamp; the water passage col
Meeting the wealthy Elbine, The sea end Koning
berg is endangered. and the fishery of Laff is q
riously curtaiied, Attempts have been made wit
sand.worts willows, and creeping plants to thror
. web of vegetation at least over the hills br
every possible effort has proved vain. The opert
ton of Van KOrf brou ght to the kings cofel
100000 thalers. Nov millions would be freel
given If the wood could be restored. The Bait