The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-11-09

III so small space as the human eye,
and as an optical instrument it is per-
feet beyond imitation. 1t is bad
enough when an individual loses both
of these Instruments; but there is
| comfort in the fact, that when one is
| gone, the hand Of the optician has
| made another, which, while it cannot
give sight, yet it can help to restore
marred beauty. -Philadelphiu Letter.
Destruction of Forests.
I The ancient Greeks used the word
de1ad,ohopei,a, literally, ito cut down
the trees" to denote the utter ruin
and devastation of country. They
We're wise men, for, by the cutting
down of the forests, more than by any
other cause. many Of the most denseIy-
peOpIed regions of the Old World have
been reduced to deserts. Palestine,
when the Hebrews took possession of
| it, was a land of rivulets and foun-
tains, being thereby distinguished fl ON
! Egypt. which must be watered by
the foot In the palmy days of the
Nation this territory, not as large as
the State of Massachusetts,, supported
in plenty a population of at least 5000
600, where now not more than 100000
| find Scanty subsistence. Even the
70 of 70 tSguri9rlG did NOT
| permanently reduce the population,
for under the Roman rule it was still
! densely peopled. But during the wars
which followed the revolt under YES
pasian and Titus, the Romans SyS-
tematically cut down, not merely the
fruit trees, but the forests, and III the
course of few generations the greater
part of the country was reduced to the
almost WaterlesS desert which it now
remain, but they are dry ravines, ex-
cept directly after a rain, when they
become roaring torrents, the only eX
ceptions being those streams whose
sources lie high up among the wooded
gha1h st584f e44aneni GreGGe tells the
forests which once clothed the hill
! sides have long been destroyed; the
famous fountains of antiquity now
flow only in song, and rivers of histOr-
ical renown are now but scanty brooks
which child may ford. The African
shores of the Mediterranean, long the
glanarv of the Roman Empire, have,
| from the same cause, become not
merely uninhabited, but practically
uninhabitable, by any except nomads
wandering from one scanty fountain
to another.
The same story is repeated in mod
ern times, down to our own day, and
all over the world. In Ceylon the
forests have been cut down for coffee
plantations, and more than twenty
years ago the loss of springs and foun-
tains have grown to be a threatening
evil. When, two centuries ago, the
| spice ltlI llllo lDo VI IIS
Dutch, they We're clothed with dense
forests of spice-bearing trees. TO IN
crease the value of the monopoly, the
Dutch set about an indiscriminate de-
struction of the forests, and these
islands were converted into arid des'
erts. Not many years ago the world
was thrilled by the report of the fam
inc in the Cape de Verd Islands. The
soil there is very light and porous,
and requires constant moisture as
condition of fertility. For many years
, the increasing lack of humidity was no
ticed. The river Socorridos, in Madeira
down which ship-timber was formerly
hoated to the sea, gradually dried W
, until it became mere rill, whose
waters, except at tlood-time, coult
/ hardly be seen along its pebbly bed
} The diminution of moisture was fount
, to have kept equal pace with the de
} struction of the forests on the noun
| tain sides, and the Portuguese Gov
2 eminent made laws prohibiting TIN
| cutting down of trees near springs ant
river sources. But wine culture wa
profitable, and the laws were power
: less against immediate interest. s
, the trees were cut down more an
$ more; the springs failed, the foun
D tains dried up, and drough
D and famine followed. Only
quarter of a century ago the DAMS
/ island of Santa Cruz was garden Q
fertility. The hills were covered wit
i forests, and trees were everywher
y abundant. A person who had formerl
: resided there recently revisited tn
!, island, and found third part of it II
e duced to an utter desert. The plan
ers had barred the island of its forests
e the soil was gradually desiccated; eve
d the short, copious showers had ceased
IS The island of Curacao was, within tn
e memory Of living men, one OF I'll
t, most fertile and wellwatered spots Q
l. earth; "but now" says Mr.. Hougl
|, "whole plantations, with their one
n beautiful villas and terraced garden
are nothing but an arid waste; ar
yet, sixty miles away, on the SPANS
Main, the rankest vegetation cove
the hills, and the burdened clout
c. shower down abundant blessings.
g The United States Commissioner
s, Agriculture in 1871 writes: elm U
m per Egypt the rains which eigh
A years ago were abundant, have ceas'
or since the Arabs cut down the tire
st along the valley of the Nile iowa
&c Libya and Arabia. A contrary effe
VS. has been produced in Lower Egg
lie from the extensive planting of t
ir Pasha. In Alexandria and Cali
lg where rain was formerly rarity,
IL has since that period become more II
I'd quent." "A. H. Guernsey, in app
Or tons Journal for NoUenaber.