The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1868-10-08
For the Democratic Press.1
"a - g FORESTS. aftjt


"a " FORESTS. dstta
Of the countries destitute of forests
besides the polar regions, there is a
- hraad- halt landing aa.sasdl China
Central Asia, Persia, Arabia, Egypt,
Sahara, Southwestern Europe, and
they occur again in the deserts and
parties of the United States, and the
table lands of Mexico Another belt
south of the equator, comprises a
great sportiopsof Australia, Southern
Africa and the Islands of South Amer
ica. Some of these countries may
never faVe been wooded, but of Per-
sia, Syria, Greece and Northern Afri-
ca, we have historical proof, that, when
they stood at the summit of civiliza-.
ton, they We're, at least, half covered
with forests. We know this also of
the plateau of Mexico. Civilization
uses a vast amount of wood, although
for navy purposes, it is being fast SUI
perceeded but it is not the necessary
use-oF Mosi, thai Is swdepmg away
the forests of the United States SO
much as its -araatoas- Destruction. We
shoRfdullpolks toothe consequences Of
this. Palestine was once well wooded
and cultivated like garden; indeed,
.s' q land owing with, milk and honey
but now, onathei contrary, mostly a
desert, and the haunt of wild Bedou-
ians. Greece, in her palmy days, the
land OF. oaks, olive trees and laurel
forests, is now two-thirds desolate
waste. Persia and Babylon, in the
cradles of civilization, are now Gov
cred beneath the sahdstof the deserts,
produced by the eradication of their
forests. Northern Africa eighteen
hundred years ago was styled the
"gEsqnaEy Of sBome,s, Baogm4,,, and. :almost i'm
measurable quantities of grain were
imported thence into Italy, when that
regien Was half covered with trees,
but the same country is now almost
every year scorched with drouth. In
fact5 so.severeI have been its drouths
during the last two OF three years. that
"a terrible famine there now prevails.
Some eiglitCor ten years since Kansas
suffered from two years drouth, and
such deapth prevailed theresthat her
people were aided by a suppl Of bread
stuffs ,ssIt from States mostly east of
the Mississipni The question may
be stskedy Why Kansas, i'm the few years
sineeit was first occupied dsby eiviliza-
ton, has been SO rarely afiicted, when
Vermant during century, has seen
nothihg like It is easily answered,
sineS ssas itute Of trees near
ly, ,a1 sfEnlpat 8 green mountains
haxa been yer covered with dense
forest and her cultivated farms have
stu Hnty Of trees. .s
Forests act asf lateesp presefving
snow and rain from melting and evap-
..eration, and producing a regularity in
the 1aow75g of of, rivers; d draining. them.
,,saWhelf they disappe year, thunder storms
become less frequent the snow melts
in the first warm day s. of spring caus-
ing ffeshets,, &C., aiii the fall the rivers
dry up and cease to be nayiggable these
ofreshets and adrouths produ also the
'.malaria, which is the Iscourge of our
Western bottom lands. t-,. nIg.,Se,9 49'
g.. Forest, although at first an obstacle
xte ;ciFiliAatippn sopn become necessary
Sfo its continuance. Our rivers, not
having their {sedrces above the snow
lineJ areso dependant on forests for
their supply of water, and it is essen
ifial 4 to- the future. prosperity of the
country that they should be preserved.
:" One Of the earlier settlers of Hud-
son says, that, even fifty years ago, he
warned the farmers here against such
wholesale destruction of trees, saying
to them that they would ,after while,
radically change the climate and rem
der the winters, colder than those of
Copneeticut. Now, he continues, our
wintersrivaFin severity those of New
England, and we rarely see an abund-
ant peach crop, though forty to fifty
years ago they, rarely failed 81 besides,
formerly we used to see frequent
showers every summer; but now they |
are exceptions. But it is not too late
.tofTepent, if our. .enter rprising fiiii farmers far
would awake to- the importance of
preserving our native trees. Only
.about si1ty.years since, the white set
tlers.of the Bapnefs of Kentucky, in
Close closed large portions of their farms
by bitches and hedges, SOFAS to protect
them against the depredations feat
tile and the, ,deyastationsl by fires. ssBy
this PIE ecantio anti on u, many species of trees
sprang up without their planting, ,such
as the oak, the hickory, the wliitewood,
the walnut, the gum, the ASH the e., elm,
&c. &c, Although there y was dnot,a |
tree 70 belseen when they took pos 7
session of their, lands, within the spaoe I
Of twenty Years afterWard they had
forests in plehty,i SO as to be supplied
with fuel and timber for lumber and
for rail fences. When visited that
::regieh; 4 some forty. years after its 4fFst
zsettlement,i f. found about thrice as
much Forest land as there e2roi7 nowd ii is yon o1
this gsstii9n Of the Western Reserve, /
andit is one of the most productive
portions off Kentucky. N.
Hudson, O., Sept. 1868. l'7 ,.-1ii.,..l -li.-.
--HSB xT7-FvJ-T ~. se.-ez---,----4.rs L /
x.nNpTHNG can we. Call our own bnt
death; and, that small modal snf tl,e
~