Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-03-09
The Influence Of Forests.

Few countries are more interested
than America In all that relates to
woods and forests; for there is really
great danger, if the matter is not
looked to in time, that large portion
of our country will be reduced to the
dry and sterile state of many parts of
the Old World which were once pros
porous and populous, but have now
become barren from the wanton cut
ting down of the trees. A recent pub
LEGATION on this subject in Germany
by DR.. Coutzen, of the Stuttgard Poly
technic School, has brought together
great number of interesting facts
from the experience not only OF Eu-
rope, but of other continents. 1t wo'd
alnVsI appear, ho soys, that man has
it in his power to regulate the temper
ature, to a certain extent, of the coun-
try in which he dwells. In Cairo,
Lower Egypt, a number of years ago,
rain fell but very seldom, only once
in three or four years; bat since the
time OF Mohammed Ali, twenty to thir-
ty millions Of trees have been planted,
and the result is now that the people
have from thirty to forty rainy days
every year. In Upper Egypt the re-
verse is the case. In the beginning
of the century it certainly did not
rain there very much, yet there was
enough; but since the heights have
been deprived of their covering of
palm trees, the rain has ceased to fall,
and, in consequence, fields and mead
ows are rendered unfruitful. From
South America Alexander Won Hum
boldt brings an interesting instance.
In 1900 he visited Venezuela, and re-
ports that the natives living in the
valley of Araguay had remarked with
great astonishment that lake which
lay in the middle of the valley had
decreased in volume with every year;
the cause of this he clearly traced to
the telling of a great number of trees
that grew upon the surrounding noun
tains. In Europe itself, many parts
of Wurtemberg have been rendered
almost barren by the telling of the
forests. In Hungary the periodically
returning drought is universally at
tributed to the determination of the
forests. The recent great floods in
Switzerland have also been attributed,
in part, to the mountain forest rob-
berry. In January, 1868, the Canton
Tessin alone lost $4,000 francs by
the floods. But the Prefect of the
Drome wrote, as early as 1904: "In
Valence and Crest there is no more
wood; the mountain declivities are
in consequence cut up into millions
of ravines"
Many celebrated Germans have
earlier recognized the grand use for
which Nature intended her forest
trees. Riehl, the historian, said:
Gut down the forest and you destroy
the historicopolitical society" Alex
ander Won Humboldt said: by the
telling Of trees covering the noun
tains and hills, man prepared, under
all zones, for the coming generation
two-fold plague-lack of fuel and lack
OF water" The patriot Ernst Mo
ritz Arudt uttered the prophecy:
"NOw will the axe laid to the tree in
many parts of Europe become an
axe which will be laid to the people"
DR.. Coutzen attributes the deteriora-
tion Of many races to the loss Of the
forests, and says: among the woods
we find fresh, healthy, strong people,
The oaks of ancient Germany were
as celebrated and powerful as its in
habitantS, who were the terror of the
Romans. The oaks are now seldom
seen, the giant oaks have disappeared,
and given place to pigmies." The
Mongols and Arabs of Asia are also
cited as examples Of deterioration.
The conclusion arrived at, apart from
the Importance of forests considered
in their aesthetic and poetic relations,
in their inestimable value for the pro-
duction of the water power, and in
relation to industry and agriculture,
is, that man cannot safely disturb the
harmony of the earth's organism; that
he cannot carry far the devastation
of the woods without mourning the
penalty of his imprudence. in the
taking away of the forests, man de-
prives the earth Of an irreparable
magazine of valuable materials for
the nourishment, development and
beautifying of his own life, and the
most perfect, elevating and beautiful
picture of the vegetable creation. He
attributes the present unfruitfulness
of Asia Minor and Greece to the de-
struction of the woods; for where
once reigned the greatest fruitfulness
and highest culture, are now only
steppes, ruins and tombs. Sardinia
and Sicily, once the granaries of It.
ally, have suffered the penalty of their
thoughtlessness in exterminating their
forests. The ancients have related
to US the wonderful productiveness of
these lands two thousand years ago,
when they were praised as the most
beautiful in the world, and the rich
ness of Sicily was certainly astound-
ing. Now, as is well known, every
thing is completely changed. The
reason must be looked for in the de-
, struction of the forests upon the
mountains, upon whose gloomy, bald
SUBMITS now the rain falls but seldom,
because the attractive power-the
forests wanting. Many streams
and fountains are now dry, which
were once sources of fertility to the
surrounding lands; and the once ad-
vanccd intellectual development OF
the people has given place to abject
) degradation.
/ The editor of a Western Demo
y