The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-07-27

mountains, because the creeks and riv-
ers dry up and the wells become too
low to furnish water for the cattle. To.
bacco and cotton quickly dry up coun-
try; in the southeastern counties OF
Virginia and North Carolina, and
throughout Mississippi, Alabama, Geor'
gla, and South Carolina one may ride
for hours without seeing more than four
or five trees 10 group. Droughts are
becoming more and more frequent in
these States, and the locust, Z" that omi.
nous pioneer of the DESERT" has made its
appearance.
1t is important that the public should
thoroughly understand the influence
which forests nave on the climate.
Woods are Natures's reservoirs, and in
the network of their roots is held the
moisture intended to supply our water
courses during the summer. One acre
of full. grown beech trees absorbs and
dispenses as much humidity as twenty
acres of grapevines or tobacco, and more
than two hundred acres of cereals. The
vapors arising from forests actually pro-
duce rain, even in summer, at great
distance from the sea. Forests temper
the extremes of heat and cold, and they
are also the homes of insectiverous birds,
those best friends of the farmer. A
country destitute of trees is abandoned
by birds, and left to the mercy of To-
Gusts and other insects. 1t is the tree
less expanse between the Mississippi and
the Rocky Mountains which feeds the
locusts, which so devastate the West,
while the wooded countries of the Paci-
ic Slope and of the Alleghanies are un
touched. Again, forests exhale oxygen
and absorb or neutralize a variety of
noxious gases Many kind, of diseases
appear under the disinfectng influence
of forest air for Instance, ophthalmia
and leprosy, so prevalent in the valley
of the Nile and on the table.lands of
Barca and Tripoli, are unknown to the
well.tim bered vally OF Abyssinia, which
lies more than a hundred miles nearer
the equator.
But the barrenness OF "a country is by
no means without remedy, as has been
abundantly proved by the Khed,ve of
Egypt, who, by planting the date palm
and olive, has added many hundred
square miles to the arabic surface of
Egypt, and has almost doubled her an
ual rainfall. The neighboring coun-
tries also have felt the effect of Egypt's
aud now the table lands ad
joining have u temperature much less
oppressive than it formerly was, and
currants and wild mulberries have sprung
up where they never before grew France
aud Algeria also have experienced the
benefit of tree planting
Il is now estimated by scientific OBJ.
serve RS that there is no desert so barren
that it cannot be reclaimed in the course
Of fifty years; but timely prevention is
much better than all remedies. The
passage of laws limiting the clearing of |
and to eighty five acres in hundred,
n the plains, and preserving the forests
IN all the upper ridges is urged by DR..
Oswald, and unquestiouably the matter
S one which should receive legislative
attention But the voluntary action of
he farmers and landowners can also
accomplish much without statutory re-
traints, and the dissemination OF sound
on this point is of the first
Importance. If the agricultural emf
hence of Michigan Is to. be maintained,
Ter farmers must cling to their wood
and tracts, and give e.planting days
regular place in their calendars of
annual work.