The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1878-04-05
FLUENCE or FORESTS.
By J. ; FAY

History shows that the whole terri
tory which surrounds the MediteTran-
can sea and contiguous TO it was once
IN IN st popu Gus and fertile region OF
the earth The very Desert of Sahara
gives signs that it was once a we'll
watered plan. Tripoli, now almost
depopulated and containing only about
45.O % Inhabitants, in the early part OF
t Christian c a had a population of
aoout 5000. 900 The climate, once
Ike Southern Virginia, is now so
intolerable that steamships passing
that coast have to keep up an artificial
shower of water on their decks to save
t e lives Of their crews, while on land
10 out Of door work can be done be
tween a m. and ) p. m. and this
change is directly attr. butahle to the
destruction of their forests. The down
warI tendency in Algeria has been
arrested by She conquest OF the country
ly the French The French gave
imme iiate attention TO this important
point, q, d the forests received proper
protect, n and are Welding the result
Of tempering the heat and dryness Of
the climate and adding value to the
country as a colony Spain, Portugal
and Italy have lost their population
and the power of sustaining it, just in
prop + ion to he destruction of their
tOres, >, until now their Governments
are taking measures to restore them.
The great chemist Leibig is said to
have expressed 5hc opinion that "the
81, " OF the ancient empires, OF Greece
and Rome was due more or less TO the
neglect Of their people to take C re Of
ieir land and lis fertilizer and climate
regulator the forest" There Is now
no Euro can nation that is not giving
attention to this branch of cultivation,
because their lands have been losing
their fertility and their climate its
moisture y sin Minor, once a most
populous anl fertile country, is now
comparatively a desert. almost treeless,
and has only thin, scattered pOpula
tion. Egyp5 was suffering under the
same condition till within She last fifty
years, extensive plantations have been
made to serve as a barrier against the
lud5 Of the desert, and the effect
upon the cljmite already hls been
III trked. Millions Of trees have been
planted. with the effect Of nearly dOub-
ling the annual rainfall. This is de
mOnsJratIOn, and is but the beginning
A hilIv country mnst suffer more by
decreasing tn IN a level cne like Egypt.
For when the trees are cut of, there
being nothing to hold the soil, the
richer and lighter portions, the mold,
ashes down to Il e valleys au.l streams
and l. carried oil in treshets to the sea.
This is illustrated in a large tract OF
mountainous country in Austria called
Ninstcnland or Karstland, orth Of
Trieste. This was heavily wooded
until it was stripped by the Nenctians
and the timber carried away some
centuries ago, when the whole district
became utterly desOlIte and sterile,
showing noshing bat covering Of
rough, loose bowldcrs. This continued
until lately, when the Austrian Govern
nunt commenced vigorously to rcfJr-
est it. They have planted there
l 900, 600 trees annually for some
years past, and its condition and as
pcct have materially improved. In
onr own country we have hardly lived
long enough rs a people to know the
full effects of clearing the land eXten-
sively. The springs, and smaller
streams, however, are drier in summer,
and in many places the soil is washed
away. These effects app, ar in the
flmous hlue-gIass regions Of Kentucky.
Ture ih1 stock farmers are moving
toward the Cumberland mountains
because the creeks and springs dried
up and their wells became too low to
supply sufficient water for the cattle
OF late years. also, very marked di-
minutiOu of the annual rainfall is mani
tested in the upper part of Vermont
heretofore one OF the finest agricultural
sections 1t shows itself in the dry
ing up of wells AMI springs and in the
dimnutiOn of the annual crops. 1t i,
to say the lea t. remarkably coincjdcut
with the great waste, destruction and
consumption of the forests of the Adi~
Iondacks ON the west, of the Green
mountains on the east. aud along the
lines of the railroads connecting Lake
Ontario and the River st, Lawrence
with Lake Champlain. On the south
shores of Lake Superior there is a
perceptiJIe elimination of the annual
snowfall, contemporJneousiy with or
following the great destruction Of the
forest by fires, and for numbering
furnace AMI railroad purposes Chica
go Lrdger.
Crows 1t is not generally known,
says a Washington paper, that crows
90 no further south than this city
during the winter. They congregate
here by the millions, and have r0ostiug
places within three miles of rs. Early
in the morning, they course down the
Potomac in large flocks, and late in
the evening return to their roosts in
the pine groves which lie adjacent &c
the river They follow the tide swamps
whenever barred by the cbb tide, and
su' sist upon the crabs and other water