New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-29

sunnlv is impaired by this Needless destiuc
tion. The SHOWS melt slowly IN the WOODS
The r,in is detained in the shaded ana spohEy
soil and among the dead leaves ana mOsses' so
thot the waters are delivered slowly to me
surncs and riyulets, ahording permanent ana
eouable flow. From the bare billsides, on the
contrary. the rain and swiftly melting SHOWS
,ush suddenly into the streams swelling them
into obstructive torrents. Drouh succeeds
flood the soil which is not washed down by the
torrent loses its fertility. The climate grows
more tryine-hJttor. colder, and mole violent III
its cbangcs-and finally garden land becomes
a desert.
India and China suffer from famine because
the trees have been swept from the mountain
stones which feed their streams; ana, on the con-
trary, the planting of extensive forests III SOME
parts of India has are Idy begun to restore
tbe land to its former hcalthfulncss ana Ter
tihty. All the countries which boIdei the
Mediterranean have suffered from the same
c,uso With the destruction of the forests, the
natural treasures of moisture, the springs have
dried I'D, the hills have been degraded Ny VAST
ing floods, the land has grown sterile, ana re-
eions which once supported a thronSing popu
lation have become barren and worthless
What has happened III Greece and ASIA Minor
is already threatening portions OF the Ne"
World In the central provinces OF ChllI, mlles
of timber land have be cleared to make
ploueh-land for wheat. Besides this, an lgn0-
rant peasantry have desoated the slopes OF the
lower Conlilleras and the valleys OF the main
Andean range with forest fires. The result
has been so apparent in foods and drouth and
l. II, 4 . io
dertaken, not only to preserve Its forests from
the mischlcvous habits of the peasantry, but 10
stock trccless areas with poplars and eucLyp-
tus. Only two yeais ago 10000 acres OF Whea'
in the Sacramento Valley, besides immense areas
of alfalfa in the same valley and III that OF The
San JOAQUIN, we've inundated, and yet the ram
fall was not excessive. But the forests on the
hanks of the SieIras are disappearing, so that
mi lions are lost 10y food one year and rs much
by drouth the next. Even now the people OF
the Connecticut Valley are mourning over the
loss of their river, which is running dry because
the lumberman has been doing such desolat-
ing work about its headwaters
The Hon. George 7. Marsh, whose work,
L" The Earth as Modified by Human Action has
done so much TO excite interest and encourage
investigation, after showing that causes set IN
motion by men have brought the face of the
earth in many places TO "deS0atlon as COM
Dlcte rs that of the moon," sounds warning
which Americans should heed. a destruction
saws Nh. Marsh, "like that which has over
"whelmed many Cuce beautiful and fertile re
cious Ct Europe awaits an important part OF
" the territory of the United States unless
"prompt measures are taken to check the ac-
/ 4. o1r in
! Stripping from the land its mantle Of forest
growth j. the most destructive OF these causes /;
and that il is already alarmngly active can be be-
IL we'd when ii is considered that every year,
! taking the whole country over, 3,OOOOOO
| acres OF woodland are cleared up, While
scarcely an effort is made to repli the de
nuded area. The consumption Of wood for
pdrposes of use and decoration is enormous and
steadily Increasing. Forest planting IS not an
attractive industry, because its returns are, at
their best, in the distant future. But if it is
| not n field for private enterprise, some organ
! lied effort of prudent capitalists or some de-
cidcd action by Government would Ger
! tainlv be justified, even for the single purpose
of securing future wood supply. But 1t Is on
broader ground that the people should arouse
| themselves to protect the dwinding forests from
| desOatlon, and to restore by tTee-pl inting the
| prOuer balance between forest and field where
| the woods have been wasted. 1t Is wise and
| well to reclaim worn out soils and shifting sand
wastes by planting them with forest trees, and 1t
is prudent to insure for coming generations the
material which above all others is most essen
tlal in the arts. But it is a paramount duty to
preserve climate which man can live i'll and a
soil which can support him. Unless we are
willing to abandon our heritage to be the prey
of deadly miasma, to be swept over by dcsoat-
ing winds in winter and parched by killing
drouths in summer; unless we are prepared to
see our springs dry up and our navigable rivers
reduced to shallow streams, some comprehen-
sive plan for arresting this wholesale destruc-
ton must be adopted, and adopted speedily.