The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1865-07-27
VOLUME 10.
influence of Forests on Climate
ssnh Soil

From an able address Of Prof. A.
Winchell, on "The Soils and SubsoiIs of
Michigan" We extract the following,
which ought to be read by every far ner,
and, if necessary to keep it in memory,
framed and hung up in his house. Its
truths apply not only to that State, but far
beyond it, and are Of great Importance:
1.-The earliest AID most pervading agen-
cy exer,ed 10y man in the modification OF
the soils of the Peninsula is the destruc-
ton of forests. Forests are the garments
of the soil They protect it equally from
excessive cold and from excessive heat
They shelter the SHOWS from the drifting
power of the wind, and arc thus enabled
to await the lapse of the rigorous winter,
with their feet wrapped in ficccy blan~
ket. Every autumn they pay back to the
soil. with interest, all that the soil has
expended upon them. They fend of the
burning rays of the summer sun, and re-
strain the feryor of the atmospheric
They shield the soil from the eyaporative
influences, and maintain an equable de-
gree of humidity On sloping surfaces
they bind together the soil, and resist the
foundations Of torrents.
':All these conditions and results are
changed when the forest is removed. The
sweeping blast Of winter strikes the earth
with the fury Of an invisible demon
drives off the natural covering OF the soil.
AMI exposes the roots and stems of yege-
tables to an unwontcd and often insuffera-
be trial The circumstances of spring
time are changed. The soil feels very
slight fuctuation OF tcmperature-fre
iue by night and thawing by day-instead
of reposing in peaceful shelter under its
coat Of snow till the unchan@ing season is
able to guaranty vegetable degree OF
warmth And then, when summer comes.
the burning sun rapidly drinks up the
moisture Of the soil, and the whole air
becomes torrid and dry. Instead Of a
regular humidity and gentle rains, the
agency of man has substituted alternat>
ing thirst and floods. And, on hill-slopes
where the natural ligaturcs of the soil
have been removed Sudden torrents wash
it away, and score the earth with ugly
cores and ravines.
IL most striking example of the effects
seen in the rear of Nicksburg. where re-
curing torrents have gnawed the hillsides
into most unsightly shapes; and whole
plantations have been borne into the Big
Black and Mississippi, to find their way
to the Balize.
Similar in kind arc the efforts on our
gravelly hillsides. 1t is not cropping that
deterioratcs their soils, SO much as the
action of torrents in transporting the allu-
vial particles to lower levels.
Such results should be forcsecn and pro
vidcd against. 1t should at least be re-
quired that all abandoned SOILS subject to
wash should be planted with trees, which
will eventually restore the surface to its
primitive condition, and compensate, to
some extent, for the fearful destruction of
the primitive forest If this mater is
overlooked we shall reach the condition
Of some Of the older countries of Erope-
itfls washed away, villages destroyed.
population on the wane, and authorities
anxious about the diminishing revenue.
i Moore's Rural New Yorker.