The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-09-17
Trees and Shrubbery.

We need offer no apology for again urging the
planting of trees everywhere,-in the city and
in the country on the sea-shore and on the
mountain-side, wherever trees will grow, there
let them be planted. The contrast between
Honolulu in 1920 and Honolulu in 1864, in its
population, houses, streets and city-like APP
pearance, Is not greater than in the abundance
of foliage and trees in and about it. How much
this has had to do in rendering it more subject to
showers than formerly, is 81 question for the
learned 10 discuss and decide bat certain it is
that it is cooler and more desirable as q place Of
residence, than when it was a barren treeless
plain, with nothing 20 shield from the scorching
sun, or cool the atmosphere around the dwellings.
The rapidity with which trees grow here is
astonishing. We have seen Pride OF India trees
ut Makawao less than three years old, q foot in
diameter. Every acre Of these trees win furnish
10 the owner an income of at least one hundred
dollars = year for fuel or timber. On the same
principle that the destruction Of trees and forests
Injuries the country COR agricultural purposes, so
the increase of trees in naturally dry districts,
benefits the country.
\ very interesting work on this subject has
lately been issued from the American press by
Hon. Geo. P. Marsh, entitled Man cnd Nature,
The work has not yet reached the islands, but
by extracts from and notices of it, We judge it
will prove an unusually instructive book. The
following is taken from it:
DESTRUCTION or FoREsTs.-The most notable and
serious notifications effected By mans agency are
those caused by the destruction OF forests. The cut
ting away of wood not only changes the appearance
of the landscape, aud the character OF the spot laid
under the axe. when practicei TO q large extent, its
effects extend to grest distaDces-perhaps over the
whole continent, and almost revolutionize climates,
soils, and surfaces.
The forest retards evaporation, and offers an effect
ual barrier 10 the wind. Its porous Soil aud still
more porous accumulation of vegetable debris absorb
and retain the moisture, and its tangled masses Of
sticks and roots restrain the fury OF torrents, and
prevent the devastation they might otherwise coca
sion. From these circumstances, II is free from the
extremes of summer and winter temperatures; 1t acts
as a constant condenser OF moisture in the atmos-
pheTe, and promotes frequent and copious showers.
When the forests are taken away, these conservative
elements go with them. The order AMI character OF
the seasons are disturbed; they become more uncer-
tain, the lines that divide them become less distinct.
Noah Webster observed this fact in America even
before the commencement of the present century.
Said he, in 1879: when the forest is gone, the
great reservoir Of moisture stored up IN its vegetable
mold is eyaporatsd, and returns only in deluges Of
rain TO wash away the parched dust into which that
mold has been converted. The wel-wooded and
humid hills are turned to ridges Of dry rock, which
~encumbers the low grounds and chokes the water
courses with lite debris, and-except in countries
favored with an equaoie distribution OF rain through
the seasons, and a moderated and regular inclination
OF surfsce-the whole earth, unless rescued by hu-
man art FROM the physical degradation TO which it
tends, becomes an ~assemblage Of bald mountains, OF
barren, turfess hills, and OF swsmpy and maarious
plains. There are parts of Asia Minor, of Northern
Africa, OF Greece, and even of Alpine Europe, where
the operation Of causes set in action by man has
brought tie face OF the earth to G desolatioD almost
cs complete as that OF the moon; aud though, within q
that oriet space Of time which We call the historical
period they are known TO have been covered with
luxurlant woods, verdant pastures, aud fertile
meadows, they are low too far deteriorated TO be
reclsiGabie by man nor can they become again 1T
ted for human use, except through great geological
changes, or other mysterious influences OF agencies. |
of which we have no present knowledge, aud owe.
which We have no prospective control"
Re foresees that q desolation, like that which has