Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-02-26
Preserving and Planting Timber.

1T is due principally to the persistent
efforts of our Horticultural Societies that
the importance of preserving our forests
has been prominent before the public.
1t is now generally allowed by meteorol-
ogists that forests do exercise very i'm
portant influence, not only upon the
weather, but, also, upon the water supply
of our rivers; for, while the annual evap-
Grafton from the earth and ocean is a
fixed quantity, its deposition varies with
the changed locality upon which 1t falls
If the land wherein it falls be covered
with forests or long grasses, it is held,
penetrates the soil, feeds springs, or is
given back slowly. If, on the other hand,
it falls on a bare or partially denuded
surface it runs quickly away, often pro-
ducing terrible treshets, such as of late
years the country as been visited with.
The late Iamented Commodore Maury
in his address before the National Agri-
cultural Congress at st. Louis, Mo-, in
1872, on "Science and It's Application to
Agriculture, " thus cOndenses the whole
subject in a nutshell: "Every movement
that takes place in the atmosphere, from
the zephyr to the tornado, is traceable to
the sun. He it is that pumps up from
the sea the water for your mighty Miss1s-
sippi River, transports it through the air,
and showers it down upon your glad
hills and smiling valleys. The quantity
of heat annually dispensed by him to the
earth is constant. The dimensions OF the
ocean are permanent. The volume OF
water annually taken up from it as Vapor
and let down again as rain, hail, snow
and dew is also constant. But the guam
tity of it that is dispensed to you year by
year, is variable"
At the International Congress recently
held at Vienna, to take into consideration
the best means for the preservation OF
forests, representatives being present from
the United States, Germany, France,
Belgium, Italy, Holland and Hungary, it
was reiterated that many OF the large
rivers of Europe were constantly dlmln-
ishing their volume Of water. 1t was
demonstrated that the cutting down of
forests had permanently lowered the Elbe
to great degree within the last fifty
years. That it had rendered drouth peri
odical in Hungary, that it had reduced
the products of Greece to al incalculable
extent, and that it had seriously affected
the fertility of Sicily and Sardinia.
Various streams, as the Rhine and Oder,
were cited as showing the resultant effects
on streams from the denudation Of forests
In Palestine, where the destruction OF
forests had been excessive, the effects
were especially noticeable in the drying
up of springs, etc.
On the other hand, and it is really OF
value to us of the West, facts were pre-
scented showing that the planting of forests
in Austria and Italy had produced
beneficial effects in inducing RAIN ard
consequent fertility, and now that the
planting Of forests, as means of produc-
ing a more equal rainfall, and of modify
ing the climate of country, is Endorsed
by the conciave of savants of Europe and
America, we suppose that those who have
combated the idea heretofore will now
fall into line and insist that they always
told you So"
The demand for Seeding forest trees for
planting has been steadily increasing for
the last three wears. The inhabitants OF
Iowa. Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska
are especially realizing the benefits OF
forest planting, though originally forced
into it by the scarcity Of timber for eco
nomical purposes.
When this planting shall have become
general throughout the new States OF the
Far West, all will learn, as many OF Us
have known for years, that the planting or
conservation of one-f1fth to a quarter OF
the area of country with timber will
render the cultivation of many plants
profitable that are now exotic and impos-
sible 1t will so modify our climate that
we shall no longer be subject to the terri.
BILE storms that now periodically, and
with increasing violence, devastate the
West.
A single tree planted exerts its own dis
tinct influence in modifying climate OF
protecting crops. 1t is small 1t is true
but, nevertheless, distinct. The Western