Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-06-19

day night. The men escaped, but two women
were arrested and spent the night In the lock-
up and paid their fines in the morning to Mr..
Blank, justice of the peace. Repab-
| ltcdn.
Spare the Trees.
The tree may be described as a rooted ami
NAL, whose function 1t is to equalize the cleo
trical conditions of the atmosphere and the
earth, to purify the air we breathe, to exhale
large quantities of aqueous vapor, and, by so
| doing, to modify both the temperature and the
| dryneSs Of that aerial ocean In which 1t eX-
pands its foliage, to check the evaporation of
| moisture from the soil, and to promote the con-
auction OF water 1t, and thus to assist In the
formation OF those subterranean springs
| which become the sources OF perennial streams
| and majestic rivers.
do so advisedly. Its vital functions are analog-
| GUS to ours The spongioles at its roots select
| and absorb the food which 1t draws from the
soil, In much the same way as that In which
| the IactealS Of the human stomach act; this
food is converted into sap, or blood and its Cir
| culation is arterial and veHous, like our own.
| The tree breathes, as we do, its leaves being
| its lungs; and the process OF respiration is eff
| fected by means OF the air-cells on the lower
surface OF the leaf, just as someinsects breathe
through the pores Of their skin. In the hy-
| drangea there are as many as sixteen thousand
OF these little air-holes In every square inch OF
the leaf; and in the yucca, or Adams needle,
there are no less than THOUSAND In the
| acid and eXhales oxygen, just as we inhale
oxygen, and exhale carbonic acid. And nv-
| Ing tree maintains a.uniformfty Of temperature,
| OF sleep, as we have, and its period of growth
maturity, reproduction, and decay, as we
| have.
AS an agent for tie publication of the atmos-
| phere, the value OF the tree is tncalculable.
| Professor Asa Gray, speaking of the Washing
| ton elm, at Cambridge, states that it is eSti-
mated to have produced an annual crop Of
seven millions Of leaves, exposing a surface OF
| five acres OF foliage to the air. And as every
| inch OF that foliage embraces many thousands
| OF respiratory tubes, each necessarily engaged
| 1n giving Off oxygen 20 long as it Is exposed TO
| the action OF the light, we may imagine the
beneflceEt part which forest plays in relation
to the supply of the vivifyIng principle for our
own lungs and blood; and we may also esti
mate what we suffer, in the prtvation of it, by
| herd1ng together In large cites, and breathing
a poisoned or deteriorated atmosphere.
The Influence Of the forest on the humidity
| of the air and the earth is due to variety OF
causes In the first place, the tree, In resplra-
ton, While accomplishing the carbonic acid sets
Tree certain quantity of vapor Not only so,
up from the soil is given OF by cutaneous
Transportation, In the same way that vapor es-
capes from our bodies: In the second place, by
shetertDg the ground beneath them, shade
| trees protect 1t against solar irradiation.
| Ihlrdly, as treeS-accordtng to experiments
which have been made In Europe-maintain t
all seasons constant mean temper iture Of
81 deg. Fahrenheit, the vapor which is held In
| suspension by the atmosphere, when the heat
OF this is higher than that of the forest coming
| In contact with the latter Is condensed and
| falls in the shape Of fine rain. or of drip"
This is phenomenon constantly observable in
| wooded elevations, Ike the Dandenong Ranges,
| for example, and those pure ice-cold springs,
| which come leaping down the shaggy slopes OF
the mountains, making sweet music as they
oa6ble and gurgte, foam and eddy, In the green
twilight of the lovely fern-tree clolster over
head, are but the vapor floating in the air.
transmitted into sparkling runnels and stain
cafaracfS nj hp cyttra ntio
calypt1, which lift their lordly heads with such
majesty OF mien above the crest of those
purple hills.
Strip the ranges Of their crown of glory
without replanting them. and each stream and
creek would forthwith disappear. The winter
rains would wash every inch Of surface SOIL Off
the mountains: and then, when the bed tx
had been stripped quite naked, heavy fall Of
rain would rebound from the impervious de-
clivit1es into the circumacent valleys. and de-
Vastating 1nundattOnS would denuQe these Of
their alluvum and sweep it into the sea. In
stead OF green pastures and blooming Or
chards, and fruitful vineyards and pleasant
gardens, you would see bare and arid plain,
treeless and waterless, except In the winter,
when tropical dOWn-pour would fiji the other
wise dry beds of what are Low permanent
| creeks with turbulent torrents
France, with other countries, has more thin
once paid the penalty OF this wholesale de-
| down; there was nothing to arrest the rain, and
to conduct 1t through mass OF vegetable hui
mus into the subsoil, perforated and rendered
| permeable by the far-reaching roots Of the
| trees. from whence 1t would find its way into
underground reservoirs, constituting the
| fOuntain-heads of never falling springs. And
thus, when the SHOWS melted. or when there
| was heavy rain fall, floods OF disastrous vio-
lence occurred. That of 1910, In the valley OF
the Rhone, destroyed property Of the value of
| seventy-twO millions OF francs. Those OF 1916
occasioned loss Of forty five millions Of francs;
that OF May, 1856, laid million OF acres, iu-
| GLIDING many towns and villages, under water
in the valley OF the Loire; while In the valley Of
| the Rhone its effects are described as having
been occupied by an invading army; and the
flood of 1875 was even more calamitous. More
recently all Europe was moved by the affecting
narrative Of theappalling foundations by VIII Oh
| Murcia was devastated. And here again out
| ragged nature visited upon man the penalties of
his own misdeeds. Warning voices were lifted
up against the reckless war which was being
everywhere waged against what little live
| timber yet remains In Spain, and the govern
ment the various municipalities, and the land
/ owners OF the country were entreated to take
| some steps for the repatriation of the mountain
| slopes; but 1t was all OF no avail The leading
| newspaper OF Madrid In an excellent article on
this subject has pointed out that the evils re-
sult1ng from periods Of protracted drought al
| ternatfng with heavy rain-fallS, occaSloning
floods. are alaImingly on the increase, and an
and public spirit of Spaniard5 to concert meas
| ure5 for reScuing the country from such perils.
Just before this fr1ghtful disaster, Hungary
was visited BY one OF similar character, at
| tributable to like cause. and attended with
a correspondingly deplorable sacrifice of hu-
man life land valuable property. The county
| thousand Inhabitants, was swept away in a
few hours, and the swollen waters of the
Thesis, augmented to the proportions OF q lake
nifty by general ruin. The Thesis rises In
the Carpathians, and In those mountains, as
elsewhere, the hand OF the spoiler has been at
any systematic attempt at replantation, and
outraged nature visits upon the heads OF the
malefactors the righteous retripution Of their
shameful yapine.