Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-09-08
The Destruction of Forests.


We are again suffering from what threat
ems TO become an annual visitation. With
a temperature Of only S3e during the noon
day hours, the air is as dead and oppressive
as during the extreme heats of July the
streets aud shores seem TO smolder under
vail Of dull blue haze the sky is partially
obscured, but gives birth to no rain-bringing
cloud, and an unaccountable lassitude aud
depression is felt by all who are sensitive
To atmospheric influences. From the west
and northwest, over the intervening hills
and lowlauds, the smokes of burning forests
drift down upon us, sitting portion Of the
ozone which remains TO US after the Summer
drouth, and rendering our atmosphere i'm
pure and suffocating. The extent 10 which
such conAagrations spread their influence is
not generally appreciated. Sometimes a
large forest-fre in Southern Now. j Jersey will
for days obscure the air Of all Pennsylvania
east Of the Alleghanies. The smoke of the
great Chicago FIRE of 1871 reached tho At
lantic coast in about go hours, still carrying
with it the strong smell of burned grain and
goods. The burning Of woods in Canada is
felt on the shores Of Chesapeake Bay.
This periodic recurrence Of forest.ires is
made possible by the prolonged spells of dry
weather which have followed the wanton de.
struction Of so much of our native woodland
Ii matters little practically, therefore
| whether the former are accidental or the
work of incendiaries the original cause re.
mains the same. The shrinkage of river,
and streams has become universally apparent
and equally so is the increase Of great floods
and foundations, whereby Nature violently
restores the equilibrium. The proportion Of
forest to cultivated land, which is necessary
in order to preserve the normal rainfall, is
now tolerably well settled and the fact that
in many parts of the country, that proportion
has already been violated, has long beer
evident. While we have an annual season
Of drouth, we are sure to have an annua
burning of forests. No system of guards OF
corps Of organized fre.6ghters viii be SC
eifectual to prevent the latter as the simple
prevention of the former. In Europe, tht
Governments have long ago recognized tn,
subject as one Of common interest to thu
whole population, and have taken the forest
under their protection. To this complexion
We shall also probably be forced to come a
last.
The power of forests TO attract the pre-
cipitation Of moisture, we may add, is mod
i6ed-and to a much greater extent than i
generally supposedly the character of tn,
trees. The experiments which have beer
made in France show tht the rainfall i
much more abundant, and the springs auC
streams much lager, in regions where thu
forests are of deciduous trees, than wherC
they are evergreen. Some observers ever
assert that a spring will dry up if I
grove Of coniferous trees be planted aroun(
it. We notice, in this country. that tn,
pine will flourish in a very dry, sandy soil
but we have not considered whether the pine
may not be partly responsible for the dryness
In Virginia, and parts Of the other ode
States the native forests Of oak, hickory, auC
other deciduous trees are succeeded by {
spontaneous growth of pine. If the latter
be not actually drouth-creating, it is certing
ly far more infammable, and the prevention
Of change in the character OF our forests
may be no unimportant step. We can only
at present, suggest tie subject to our read.
ers. Its vast Importance, and the imminent
necessity Of some form Of action, need NJ
discussion Tribune.