The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1865-09-12
farm aud atuasthuld.
The Effect Of stripping a COun-
lfH OF It's Trccs.

Wy w tAo hNtNSs
HTho summer heats are beginning to dry
up the springs and brooks which were
lately so lill and noisy, and the attention Of
observing people is again turned to The
fact Of tho dimnution, year by year, Of the
quantity OF water in our streams at certain
seasons, in consequence Of stripping the
country OF lts trees, and converting the
forests into pastures and titled fields. Al
most everywhere our rivulets and rivers
show, by certain Indications in their chan.
ncls,. that thOy once flowed toward the sea
witha hrger current than now. II we go
on as we do now, we shah at length ace
many of our ancient water courses as near
" oblitorated as Addison found them IN
Italy, when he wrote:
" Sometimes misguided bv the tuncful tbronR,
! look for streams immorializcd in song,
That lost In silence aud oblivion lie;
Dumb are their fountains aud their channels dry,
fct run forever, by the MUSES. skill,
And in the smooth description murmur still"
This denuding the country of all te trees
has made The rivers Of Spain for the most
part mere channels for tho winter rains
The Guadalquivcr, which some poet calls
q mighty river" enters the sea at Malaga,
without water enough TO cover the loose
black stones that pave its bed The Holy
Land now often misses tho tlatter rain"
or receives it spariUgly, and the brook
kedron is long dry ravine passing of to
the eastward from Jerusalem TO descend
between perpendicular walls beside the
monastery of Mar Saba TO the Valley of the
Jordan aud the Dead Sea. Mr.. Marsh, in
hiB very instructive book entitled Man
and Nature" has collected vast number of
instances showing how, in the Old World,
tl,n q, T. 4. a 4
lowed by general aridity Of the country
which they formerly overshadowed. Wheth-
or there are any examples of frequent rains
restored toa country by planting groves
and orchards wo cannot say-but we
remember, when travelling at the West
thirty-three years since, to have met with
gentleman from Kentucky, who spoke of an
instance within bis knowledge in which
perennial stream had made its appearance
where at an early settlement of the region
there was none. Kentucky, when its first |
colonists planted themselves within its
limits, was q region in which extensive |
prairies. burnt every year by the Indians,
predonlinated.
More than forty years since poot of our
country, referring to the effect OF stripping
the soil of its trees, put these lines into the |
mouth Of one of the aboriginal inhabitants /:
50 Before these fields were shoru and titled,
Full to the brim our rivers flowed;
The melody of waters filed
The fresh and b0Hndless wood
And torrents dashed, aud rivulats PLAYED,
Aud fountains spOuted in tho shade.
Those grateful sounds are heard no more
The springs are silent in the sun
The rivers, by the blaekened shore,
WiAh lcssening current run,
The realm our tribes arc crushed IN get 1
May be barren desert yet"
The causes which operate to make the
rains more frequent aud the springs more
regularly full in a wcll-wouded country are
more than one. Under the trees
of q forest n covering of fallen leaves is
spread over the ground, by which the rains
are absorbed and gradually givcn out to
the springs and rivulcts. The trees also
take up. large quantities of this moisture in
the gronnd aud give il out to the air in the
torm of yapor, which afterwards condenses
into clonds aud falls in showers. All the
SHOWS, likewise, that fall in forests are
more slowly melted aud sink more gradually
aud certainly into the Garth than when they
fall on the open fields. On tho other hand,
the rains that fall in an unwooded region
run off rapidly by TIE water courses, and
that portion of them which should be re.
served for dry season is lost.-N \. Pest