The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-09-12
FORESTRY.

nv 4 Dcittfc tLHl but lew lcfroho III x Jill
~ this day, who viii deny that forests are the
protectors Of agriculture ghd in fact that their
presence in a country il necessary to render it in
habitable. Under the deep shade OF the forest Is
sheltered from evaporation the treasures OF water
that give prosperity, abundance and happiness to
the human race. says Mr.. Holstein in his lee
tnre on this subject
- But forests are not only the faithful keepers of
cur water supply, and draw by cooling the stmcs-
phere the vapor-laden clouds TO their neighborhood;
dare to go even farther, and venture the assertion
that forests also act their part in the manufacture of
rain The atmosphere in its composition contsins
only a very small amount Of hydrogen gas, as l to
about 20 Of nitrogen and % of oxygen. Hydrogen
gas is also the lightest Of an known substances, l6
times lighter than oxygen and Ii times lighter than
air. Oxygen and hydrogen form in all plants, from
the blade of grass to the stately tree, a large amount
Of their composition, chemically combined. When
plants decay add rot, they undergo a slow process of
combustion, and decomposition takes place and those
gases are set free and float up in the air. Oxygen
and hydrogen gases when combined as 8 parts of
oxygen TO | Of hydrogen form water; or in other
words, Q pounds of water is the combination Of 8
pounds of oxygen and l pound Of hydrogen gas.
Who will dispute that these gases, when liberated
from the immense masses Of decomposing leaves,
branches and fallen trees that are annually added to
the ground Of the forests, rise quickly into the air
and in meeting vapor-laden clouds augment and
effect the combination to produce showers of rain, in
the cool atmosphere of the forest? 1t was a saying
of the Indians in Texas, american man make rain,'
and have heard Mexicans in California make the
same remark. Why does American man make
rain? Because rain was the consequence Of the de-
composition of vegetation that was produced by the
thousands of acres Of land that were turned under
by the industrious plOWshares OF the hardy pioneers,
and the wide fields of cotton and of grain that in
their small capacity acted the part of forests. here
repeat again. what 1 observed before, if we want
to preserve these islands a home for our children, We
must not only preserve our mountain forests but re-
plant forests and groves Of trees near the seashore,
or in a few years resort to fight, and leave the coun-
try once called the gems Of the ocean"
We have been so impressed with the impor-
lance of this subject, that we have left unim-
proved no opportunity, during several years past,
10 direct public attention to it, in the hope of
a%rousing sufficient interest to ensure the accom-
plishment of a general system of tree-plantin
throughout the islands. In some few praise
worthy instances (like that of Captain Makee, at
Ulupalakua, on Maui) land owners themselves
have appreciated the value of trees, and have
planted extensively. Government, however,
should be foremost in this work, by lending its
aid and encouragement. Let there be a School
of Forestry established at Punahou, at Lahaina-
luna, and perhaps at other prominent educational
institutions. The knowledge of how TO plant
and rear young trees will prove in after years
quite as valuable an acquisition to the student as
some other accomplishments VIC wot of, and
vastly more conducive to the benefit of the coun-
try at large. Look at the beautiful young groves
Of Eucalyptus that a very few years have suficed
to produce on East Maui, and then consider what
might be accomplished on the now barren hills
of Oahu
DR.. f. Muller, a German writer on Forestry,
says
"In Australian vegetation We probably possess
the means Of obliterating the rainless zones of the
globe, to spread at last woods over our deserts, and
thereby to mitigate the distressing drought, and to
annihilate, perhaps, even that excessively dry heat
evolved by the suns rays from the naked ground
throughout extensive regions of the interior. = =
= 3 How much lasting good could not be effected,
then. by mere scattering seeds Of our drought-resist
ing acacias, and e~ucalypts and casuaTinas, at the
termination of the hot season. along any water
course, or even along the crevices of rocks, or over
bare sands or hard clays, after refreshing showers
Even the rugged escarpmentso of the desoIate regions
of Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco might become wood.
r ed; even the Sahara itself might have its GASES vastly
augmented; fertility might be secured again to the
Holy Land, and rain to the. Asiatic plateau, or the
desert of Atacama, or timber and fuel be furnished
TO Natal and La Plata.