The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-03-18
Sylviculture.
BY T. S.

| BY T. S.
| 1t is demonstrated fact that no people
on the face of our globe are so inquisitive
as the majority of the European race, for,
unlike any other race, they have borrowed
| from every other country that had anything
good to give, in inventions, examples, &c;
and the nations that strictly adhered to
this motto are the ones that are in advance
of the others less energetic. Notwithstand-
ing, there is not nation existing that has
not deviated from the right track, and in
after years looked back through the vista
of time, with sorrowful hearts, on the i'm
providence of the past, and are therefore
examples to countries following the same
| foot prints and should be the means of
engendering an inquiry into the secrets of
such mshaps. Nations that at one time
teemed with fiourishing population-pos-
sessing stately cities, where commerce
prospered and art sat proudly enthroned !;
where exuberant valleys smiled with wav-
ing grain and the slopes of the hills blushed
with the purple grape-now all is altered,
and the very aspect of nature falls chill on
the heart; the plains are blighted; the
rivers shrunk, and in some cases dried up ;
and its people that once boosted they would
s'last for ages" have slwindled away
into insignificance, through ignorance
| Therefore, how evident it is, that the Crea-
| tor designed beforehand that we should
search for these hidden evidences of His
handiwork. g. Seek, and We shall find !;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you,"
are the words of God, and they apply as
fully to the material wonders of His works
rs to the mysteries of His revealed Word.
We frequently hear of atmospheric changes
unprecedented droughts-here and there
lakes sappearing-streams leaving their
channels dry-springs ceasing to issue
forth-trees dying, &c, &c. All this leads
men Of reason to investigate and pry into
these mysteries, and explain to the world a
clear and unimpeachable proof of the cause.
By investigation we see that we have not
only '.dominion over the fishes of the sea,
| the birds of the air" &c, mentioned by
Moses, but have also the reins whereby we
can check and moderate the temperature
of our atmosphere, according to our desires,
here we have land,-a goodly land,
unequaled in the world and it lies with us
whether it shall retain its present fertility
its luxuriance and salubriety for remote
ages. When this vast tract was in possess
sion of wandering Indians, it was densely
wooded, with few EXCEPTIONS and where
the gigantic and storm-defying oak, and
the pines, with their ever green plumes,
nodded to every breeze for unknown ages
now none, comparatively speaking, in the
old States, remain-each crash of a fallen
tree speaks bitter things. Man is every day
ruefully and wantonly extermnating the
primitive forests, preparing for himself and
the coming generation a scarcity Of lum-
Der, lack of water and famines dire as ever
visited mankind. Some people may say
thoughtlessly, there is plenty of timber for
centuries to come in this country, and what
need have we to spare the trees? All, fool
ish delusion so said many parts of Asia,
and Europe and elsewhere, and allow me
to hope that the United States may never
cherish such an idea. If we desire for the
coming generations, a goodly heritage, we
have not day to lose. In those old States,
each tree which succumbs to the tempered
steel, should arouse the owner to sense
of his duty, to sally out, with spade in
hand, to set out another in it's stead 9TH
erwise, we can read our fate from Egypt,
Germany, and elsewhere. Evaporation
will inevitably cease also, dew, rain and
snow, in countries, or rather States, inland,
away from the humidity of the sea, which
is the very essential for the nourishment of
the organic creation, whether vegetable or
animal. Every school-boy knows that the
ocean evaporates every day an inconcciva-
BILE quantity of water, which is waited
inland by winds, exercising important and
varied functions in modifying the surface
of our globe. Every tree, or mountain
peak, retains a certain quantity, and where
large forests are, the quantity is amazing !;
found to imbibe from the earth, in five
hours and a half, two ounces of water
therefore, if two leaves imbibe two ounces
of water i'll so short time, what an enor-
nous amount is required for the vegetable
world Judging from this, it shows evil
IDENTIFY, that forests like mountains, retain
humidity, and are substitutes for inland
seas, which reduce the temperature, by
radiation and evaporation, and consequently
formations of rain dew, or snow, which,
falling on the earth, produce streams, &C.,
which go murmuring on to the great reser-
voir, whence they originated. Surely, there
fore, by telling the forest, we expose our
selves to all the vicissitudes which have
fallen on other sections; for in 1900, Hum,
boldt visited Venezuela, South America,
, and was informed by the natives living il
the Valley of Arasuay that they had
noticed, with great establishment, that 9
lake which lay in the middle of the Valley
had decreased in volume every year. TIL,
cause of this is clearly traced to the telling
of a great number of trees, which grew
upon the surrounding mountains In Hun
gary the periodically returning drought:
are universally attributed to the extermi
y nation of the forests. In Cairo, Lowe
Egypt, great many years ago, rain fcl
but scldom-only once in three or fou
years; but since the time of Mahommet
Ali, twenty to thirty millions of trees hav,
\ been planted, and the result is now, tina
, the people have from thirty to forty rain,
days every year. In Upper Egypt it is 9th
erwise. In the beginning of the century
there was not much rain, but sufficient
but since the heights have been deprived
of their covering Of palm trees, the rail-
has ceased to fall, in consequence of whicl
the fields and meadows are rendered un
fruitful. Sardinia and Sicily, once the gran