The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-29
Preservation Of Forests.

ing have been kindled; and it was the feu-
dal barbarous fondness for the chase which
preserved for Europe the remnants Of the
great forests which once overspread that
continent. In America there never were
any forest laws, except perhaps the tradi-
tional unwritten law that forests must be |
destroyed as the foes of civilization, and it
is not to be doubted that the arid wastes of
the table lands west of the Goth deg. from
Washington, as we'll as the broad treeless
prairies eastward to 10 deg. west, are in a
great measure due to the agency of man.
that primitive red man who has lett proofs
of his successive waves of conquest and de-
cadence in the mounds of the Ohio Valey' |
the pyramids of the Mississippi. and the
stone ruins of the Colorado and Rlo Grande |
basins. The savage game-laws OF Europe |
in the progress OF civilization. have lnsens |
iblv lapsed into the intelligent forestry sys- |
TENS OF Germany, France and England,
which have preserved and increased the
great woodlands of the Hartz and central
Germany, added to the preserves OF the
Vosges and Brittany, the forest-reclaimed
sand dunes of the Landes, Gascony and
Gironde, and the public forests and pri-
vate parks Of Great Britain; while in south |
ern Europe the denudation of forests, the
increase Of floods, and tine impoverish-
ment of the soil by drought and sun-bak-
ing and parching winds have been permit
ted to 90 on pdri pdSsu.
In this country we had everything to
learn, and we labored under this disadvan-
tage, that forests we're so abundant and so
obstructive to the progress of husbandry
that they were looked upon as a curse and
a nuisance 1t has taken us long to IN
learn the prejudice that the thrifty farmer
was he who cleared most new lane"
deed we have not yet unlearned it. But
we are making good progress in that direc-
ton, and it may be considered an estab-
lished fact that the wholesale destruction
of forests in his country has been perma-
nently arrested, and the replanting of de-
nuded regions actually begun. There are
significant signs that the reaction in these
directions is vigorous one, not only in
the East. but in the West also. Thirty
years ago you could scarcely ride ten miles
in any direction in the state of Ohio with
out encountering large strips of "belted'
timber-even the magnificent oaks on
the island O. Blennerhassett, charming
solitude, almost hallowed by romantic as
ISOLATION, stood up gaunt and gray in the
wind, girdled by some ruthless hand to
IudhO LuCul luC oOOuCls lO-Nuy thC
Geological Survey OF Ohio" devotes the
bulk Of its first volume of reports to an
anxious and elaborate exposition of the re-
lations subsisting between forests and eli
matology, with view to encourage the
replanting Of forest spaces by showing the
disastrous results that have ensued from
wasteful and reckless clearing. In the
same way the cheerful agreement of the
MANILA nf fhiu tot ~ "a ipfoil1
gent and determined effort at preserving
the forest regions of the Adirondacks, and
SO saying our natural and artificial system Of
internal navigation from perishing by desic
cation, is extremely encouraging to all who
take the future into consideration. We
trust and believe it will not be many years
before the forests that nurse the streams
rising in the Alleghauies and the Blue
Ridge will be similarly protected. In somt
parts of the West the destruction Of forests
still goes on wastefuly, but in others
where there was originally prairie only
there has been considerable planting, ant
with results which are already appreciate.
beneficial. The introduction of tn
Eucalyptus into California, if 1t succeeds
may be expected almost to revolutionizt
the climatology and agriculture of tina
state, which now has only .04 per cent, o
forest land-less than any other division o
our territory, excepting only Dakota, whicI
has no more than .03 per cent.
1t is noticeable in regard to the grea
cotton states that the productiveness o
their crops of the staple, which need
moisture greatly, is in proportion to tn
respective percentage OF forests Thu
Mississippi has 606 per cent. Louisiana
500 per cent; Alabama, Sc per cent.
Georgia, $40 per cent. /; Arkansas, SID
and Texas, 4l.6. Allowing for the woode
mountain sections of Georgia, and the ari
treeless plains of Texas, neither of whic
are cotton-growing, the ratio of productive
ness in cotton per acre will be found t
vary exactly in proportion to the percent
age of undenuded forest land.
Meteorologists and biologists are nc
quite agreed as to the connection betwee
the rainfall of country taken in gross an
the diminution or increase of its forest;
There are many matters yet problemati(
yet in dispute in the premises; bu
some very vital points are considered t
be definitely settled, and these ar
more than sufficient to determine tn
instant importance of the preservation G
forests where they exist, and their restora
ton or establishment where they do nc
exist. 1t is settled that denudation of fol-
est lands converts into a series of extreme
of drought and food what wonld be Other
wise tolerable and equable supply {
moisture. Where the woods once retaine
the rain-water and spring water, allowin
it to trinkle away gradually, keeping tn
streams at an average height and the so
always moist, there are now rushing food
which sweep off the soil of the hills, inur
date the low country, and then disappear
leaving the streams low and the soil {
parch aud crack with drought. Loo,
rains and occasional rains cease, and "
have instead constantly increasing ter
dency toward dry season and rainy Sc;
son, such as is found wherever the soil
bare and the sun hot. These bad effect
are intensified by the extremes of heat an
cold, and the disastrous work done b
blighting and drying winds where the fol
ests Go not interpose to break them, an
the soil is not cooled or dampened by frt
quent Intervals of shade Its known, alsC
that forests prevent the beds of precipitou
streams from following out and becomin
canyons. The trees, perhaps, alone hay
prevented the Ohio and the Mohawk frol
becoming like the Colorado of the West.
1t is likewise known that tree-planting
OF the utmost value 10 protecting the coas
line from the blighting effects of ocea
winds and the violent enroachments
the sea. The ameliorations efecte
in this way in few years by NEAR
OF the maritime pine in the department
Of Landes and Gironde in FraLc
are very remarkable. =. The encroachmen
OF the sand hills have been completed
checked, and many benefits experienced b
Aprlcnlfnrn far inland Such rlnnAn