New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-08
TREES. CLIMATE AND SOIL.

20 the Editor or the IrtouHe'
SIR: The idea has long prevailed that the removal
sf forests is accompanied with diminished rainfall
A matter of course the converse of this would DC
held rs widely and with equal confidence. Such.
M doubt is the popular belief at this tine. Whle
in the Eastern States during the excessive drouth
of the past summer men constantly attrlout
ing the failure of rain to the removal OF the forests
from our older States, we read IN the Puor0
Journals that Nebraska was favored with iho'e
copious and more equally distributed supply ..
rain than in any former year within the n'sIoiN VI
that State. 1t was claimed that the increaso"
amount of moisture was due to the planting VI
trees and that a sufficient breadth OF ioreSt sio"s
was now planted to secure the State against droun
for all coming time. The tradition Is Una. 'no
growth of trees favors the increase OF ram, ah" 'n
their removal is followed by drouth It's oniy
within the present year that this theory mas oeeh
combatted by Professor j. ID, whitney IN HIS IT,
Gently published monog aph ON Climatic ChangcS'
The views therein set forth have not as yet peen
widely disseminated. They are so radically opToscu
IN the opinions commonly held that even II made
familiar through the public prints, they are hoV
likely soon to gain general acceptance.
Against the popular notion that the certain ury-
inc-up of the lands the result of removing the
forests the Professor claims That the question OF
desiccation is one essentially removed from the 40
main Of mans influence" lie would prove TINS 10
he the case bv showing that the process began IN
Geological epochs long before man was on tue
earth to interfere with any OF the operations o.
nature that it has been continued down lnto MS
toric Zines and that il is now going on IN the same
general way, neither FASTENED nor retarded by the
intervention of human agency. lie OeleVes tilaV
the human race Is no way responsible lOr tle
changes which hare brought aud are bringing ruin
upon those countries which, once prosperous. have
iva a.
countries north of the Mediterranean arc instanced
as showing decay from drying-up of the land ana
an increasing absence of moisture from the atmos-
nbere As a rule these nations have reached q
stage of decadence from which they can never Use
to occupy again the position which they nave losl'
No efforts of are of the slightest aValI 10 re-
store the former conditions OF climate by planting
forests or by any other means. There has been
loss rather than gain in the quantity anu ne
ouency of rain in Egg pit the beginning OF TINS
century, despite the vigorous measures Oh the Oo'-
eminent in planting forest trees
Professor Whitney shows from MANY instances
observed in our own land that the removal Of forests
has norhinr to do with the fang-otf i'll the amount
mr. the frequency of ram neither does the planting
of trees occasion any increase in this, for while tue
Great Salt Lake has been rising for some years
since the Mormons began planting trees upon lts
Shores In ncghboring States the Wnnemucca ana
the Pyramid Lakes have been rising in an equali!
rapid ratio although their shores "were being
strpped of their trees with the greatest rapidlty.
aThere is inst as much reason for inferrng that the
rise of these latter produced by distressing the
country as that the similar increase of Great Salt
Lake was the result of tree-panting by the Nor
mans in other words there is no truth i'll. either
statement" So plainly and 50 bt Idly are set forth
these scientific principles. 1t is not the wasteful
destruction of forests by man IN wholesale
daughter and burning which has brought the desc
lat:on of dryness upon many desert regions oil the
globe but rather the failure of rain from wholly
natural causes which has lei to the disappearance
of the woods There is left 10 ground TO hope that
civilization will ever reappear in lands 1t has once
forsaken if the operations OF nature continue con-
slant The loss of forests and the deterioration OF
soils are but examples of the difficulties which man
mects in his struggles against unfavorabe physical
conditions anil arc proofs of his inability to over
come them. Doctrines like these seem tnged WIN
the despairing thought of fatalism.
All that Professor Whitney has to say upon the
cultivation of forests comes in incidentally to help
ont the discussion of Climatic Changes Since
that work was published in the spring some status
tics respecting forestry have been published OJ the
Census Bureau ai:ording much interesting and
timely information. These statistics were collected
nv Professor Sargent who has made this matter
subject of special study In his contribution to me
Worth AmricJn RerieC for October on Inc Protec'
ton of Forests he presents views identical with
those of Professor Whitney and Is no less clear ana
emphatic in expressing them. The popular DeHei
that forests affect the rainfall has too long" lie
saws "conused the discussion OF the forest ques'
ton aud carried II far beyond lis legitimate
lnltSr He is positive that trees have no power 10
increase the quantity of ram lie nanllestS not te
slightest faith III the endeay0rs oil Government anu
ol individuals TO overcome the natural dryness OF
soils and of climate by planting forests. TN the
contrary he looks upon this lrSn ness as the cause
md not the effect of the lack of trees. Kan he
regards as the agency which wl cOthe the treeless
regions OF the interior with woods. indeed he de'
cares that the position OF The forests ana plans
of North America can be explained upon no other
theory From this il Will naturally he inferred |
that the density of the original forests varies
directly with the rainfall. ,,
To the unscienti & observer rain does not seem to
be the sole thing essential to the growth OF
forests the plains in the MISSISSIPPI valley |
Even the casual visitor to that section must nave |
noticed pecularties in the growth OF timber which
climatic conditions will not account tOT The char
ocrr of the soil seems to have much to do with the
kind of growth that covers IT, Let the peculiar soil
OF the Illinois prairles he met with IN the timber |
region of Wisconsin, as II Will at times he met Win
even north of the Fox River, and it will be found
covered with luxuriaDt grass Just as would be the
case with s,milar piece OF gronnd located In
sontbern Illinois. On the other hand. deposit of
drift coarse texture and mineral III ITS COMPOST.
ton, occurring as 1t sometimes does IN Illinois, VIII
he found covered with growth OF trees which not
even the assaults of fire from the surrounding
praires have been able to eAternllnate And yet |
these wooded gravel-bedS are often higher than the
grassy lands about them, and their loose texture
let's the rains through much faster than the
water drains off the level lands around Again, IN
those regions which atc designated the maps as |
treeess wherever the ledge crops out along the |
borders of raynes many varieties Of trees as cellars
and crab apples take root in the crevlces OF the
rock and flourish there. 1t may be said that these
owe their existence to the water Oozing from the
ledge or tricklng down its sides That this IS not
the case however, will be seen from the fact that
where the dcbris-ples OF loose chips and fragments
OF the rock lying heaped against its base-becomes |
sufficiently pulverized to SUPP OFT trees under our
New-En gland climate, IT bears them just as natur-