The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-07-20
Destruction OF Forests.

More and more attention seems to be
given each year to the denudation OF
the land by removing the forests. That
large masses OF trees have a salutary
climatic influence is generally aclnowl-
edged. In regions where forests are ex-
| tensive the severe extremes of heat and
cold are rarely experienced. The eli
| matte influences OF trees seem to make
themselves felt under exactly those con-
ditions where man most needs protec-
ton. In Northern Maine, where for
merly there were immense and wide
extending forests of pine, spruce and
hemlock, which have now vanished be-
fore the ak of the rapacious lumber
man, the winters were not 80 severe as
these now experienced, while the sum-
mers had few of these long heating and
prostrating periods which are now of
almost yearly occurrence.
In Europe great care is now being
given to the preservation of old, and the
creation of new forests. In Germany
the question is taken up by the Govern
ment, and there are laws relating to the
destruction of the trees and the growth
of new forests. 1t has become neces-
sary to enact new laws in order to pre-
vent the almost total disappearance of
woodland. In England vast forests are
preserved as parts of the estates of the
nobility, and there will be little danger
OF their disappearance as long as En-
glish wealth and pride remain as great
and as. strong as they are to-day. But
sometimes an heir comes into possession
of an incumbered estate-a condition
brought on, perhaps, by his predecessors
and perhaps by himself-and, to free this
p ttrimony from vexatious and pressing
claims, he cuts down and sells the trees
which had been the growth of centuries,
and had become the pride of his ances-
tors.
In France great anxiety is felt to pre-
serve the few forests which remain, and
with characteristic zeal Frenchmen have
studied the question of forest-growing,
showing its influence on climate and soil
The changes produced by different kinds
OF trees have been studied and explained.
Among the more interesting of these
investigations are those relating to the
pine and larch trees, each of which is
great promoter of fertility in the soil.
1t is claimed that the pine will grow ON,
and, in fact, naturally selects inferior
soils, and soon raises them to higher
grade of fertility. Loose, sandy soil
tney render stable; compact, clayey soil
they pulverize, and by the desquamation
of their leaves cover it with thick mat,
which furnishes fertilizing properties,
and retains the fallen moisture. In fact,
they will create from mineral soil good
alluvil land. The French point with
grief to the almost desert wastes in the
South of France, produced by the de-
struction of the forests, aud demand
protection for those woodland tracts
which still remain. 1t is affirmed that
sheep and goats are as destructive to for
est growth as the woodlands ax, devour-
ing and exterminating every shoot which
would in time replace the trees which
might be cut down. Horses and cattle
do not seem to be endowed with those
instincts which are so fatal to forest
growth in the case of the other animals.
and it is demanded that the goats and
sheep shall be excluded from woodland
pasturage, and that, if any animals are
allowed to browse upon the tender shoots,
it shal be only cattle and horses. San
Francisco Bulletin.