The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-01-02
Destruction of Forests.

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the forest area is diminished, and as q
natural consequence springs dry up,
the volume of water i'm the rivers is
lessened, the soil loses its natural mois-
ture, radical changes take place in
the naked slopes of the noun
tains precipitate desolating torrents on
the valleys, and the winds, for want OF
q natural screen, burst over the land
with hurricane violence, prostrating
crops, making q clean breach
through thickly-built towns, and caus-
ing a great destruction of both life and
property. In France, along the banks
of the RhOne, and other rivers in
districts, since the disap.
pearance of the forests, and the sweep
ing away of the loose soil, the rains
pour down with unchecked violence,
carrying everything before them, fill
ing the rivers to overlooking, and CIV
ing rise to foundations that annually
infiict serious losses on the people
living near these streams. Such is the
extent of this evil that the French
government has lately been obliged to
adopt measures for the replanting OF
forests on the mountains. In Greece,
parts of the country once celebrated
for their fertility, and the perennial
rivers that furrowed their surface are
now barren wastes. The beds of the
rivers remain, but they are destitute OF
water, excepting when during the
vernal and autumnal rains they serve
as courses for the mountain torrents.
The climate is less salubrious than in
antiquity, and the country has lost
much of the beauty which the poets
loved to sing Of The same results
have followed from like causes in Tur-
key and other regions of the East
With the eXtripatiOn of the forests
nature has again become savage. wild
beasts have reappeared. and man has
sought less inhospitable localities.
There is hardly notable river in the
East that has not dwindled to shadow
of its ancient volume, while in many
instances formerly deep streams are
now dry channels. Persia is at this
day one of the bleakest, most cheer.
less, and barren Of countries, and vet
it was once famous for its rich vallies,
its abundant and varied production,
and its genial climate. Nothing can
be drearier than the mountains OF
Spain, with hardly thin growth OF
bushes and scrub wood to cover their
nakedness. In the long summer
months the plains at their feet lie
baking under tropical heat, and the
is dry and oppressive, and
potable and irrigating water can only
be had with great difficulty and by
costly artificial appliances. More en-
lightened than their Christian success
sors, the Mnors, in their time, took
special care of the forests. The A Tabs
were always remarkable for the wise
precautions they took for the preser-
walton of water sources and the distri-
button of this element of life and fer
tility. The island of Sicily to this day
is covered with aqueducts, subterra-
mean and superterranean, which they
built to convey the outflowing of the
springs to the adjacent dis
tricts. If Palermo now has an abun-
dant supply of water, it is owing to
the Arab Caliphs. and not to the Chris
tian dynasties that at various times
ruled the fortunes of this insular para
disc. During the Arab domination in
Spain, the mountain forests were pro-
tected by the most stringent legislation,
and care was taken tOpreserve a proper
between woodland and till
able soil. All these wholesome regula-
tions were annulled when the Moors
were expelled from Spain. The dry
of the East, where prolific
plains have been converted into des-
erts, and vast tracts. once dotted over
with populOus cities, have now no
other tenants than a few tribes of
Arabs. were originally thickly
Progressively with the dis
appearance of the woods, the natural
resources declined. Whenever, ac-
to well informed writer,
statistical records have been preserved.
it is proved, beyond the possibilit! of
A doubt. that the misfortunes of the
iesolate regions of the East commenced
with the disappearance of their arbo-
real vegetation.
1t is well for us to take account OF
these facts, and to inquire if we are
not tending to the SAME state Of things.
1t is ascertained by statistical data that
since the year 1885 the forest area of
he Western hemisphere has decreased
1t the average yearly rate of 5000
acres, and that in the United States
alone this rate has advanced from 500
square miles in 1885. to 8, 400 in 1876.
Between 1850 and 1885 the total aggre
gate of forests felled in South and Cen
trail America, and in the Eastern.
and Southwestern States
Of our republic may be estimated at
from As, 900, 900 to 50,OO0, 900 acres. In
other words we have been wasting the
supply of the American soil
ut the average ratio of 7 per cent. for
each quarter of century during the
last l25 years and are now fast ap-
the limit beyond which any
further decrease will affect the climatic
of the entire continent
On the Western praries ii has been
found necessary to plant groves of
trees on their wide surfaces to break
the force of the winds, to restore mOis-
ture to the soil, and to promote fertil.
izing rain-falls. In the cities, where
there is necessarily more or less of
exhalatiOn of dectying mat
ter, sewer gas and offal, trees have
been found to be the most powerful
absorbents of vitiated air, while they
emit the most powerful of
purifying agencies-oZOne. In town
and country, systematic tree planting
Is required for both agricultural and
sanitary purposes. State and National
legislation is needed to prevent the
destruction of the forests
that has been going on for so long a
period of time, and which threatens, if
moi arrested, in no distant time to in
fiict upon us the same evils under
which the people of the East are now
suffering.
"A remarkable fulfillment OF a