Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-16
FOREST CULTyRG.,


N. Y. Head.
In q valuable pape- :cii before an agri
cultural meeting AZ Northampton, Mass,
on the 7th, Pro-. g. s. S.cgen> pc nted out
the vast losses to th9 ooaltry annually by
forest fires. The stron sest point il his
paper-on the permanent damage done by
these fires-is that they destroy not only
the growing wood, but the fertility of the
soil itself.'' AS this is the season for leg
islation it is timely to press on legislators
the necessity for revising existing enact
ments to better secure the wasted forests
from the wholesale confagrations to which
they are every year exposed. In recent al
ticle Prof II Sar g Mt takes this ground
thai "forssts do no. produce rain; rain
produces the forests. and without a certain
amount of rain they cannot exist Rain
fall may not be directly produced in large
quantities by the condensation of atnos-
pheri ,moisture caused by the ud-chiliing
forest; but the indirect agency Of the tim
bered land in augmenting the supply of
rainfall which permeates the soil and be-
comes agriculturally beneficial is certainly
very considerable. The addition of sin
gle inch of rainfall to the am oant which
penetrates the soil instead Of running off
is on every acre over 22,50o gallons.
But there is another eject OF forests
which is generally overlooked even by
scientists in discussing their physical i'm
portance. In historic times marked eli;
matte changes have occurred in Europe
and America which can be explained only
by the progress of continental decreasing.
The able British physicist, Adm ira! Smyti
in his work on the physical geography OF
the Mediterranean basin, clearly Saws
that great ciimatic ca ,uc:eS have taXen
| place. The effects OF iatense cJid weather
in Italy, Greece aud Asia Minor recorded
by ancient writers. ne n ies. ''hdve seen in
later ages unkn1w ~ II tbs csaatry
it is doubtful whete' W. will ever
have as cold WHITES As that of 1880, when
the Chesapeake bay was frozen solid" &C
cording to Mr.. Jefferson, from its head to
the mouth of the Potomac" and Wash
ington's troops securely crossed On the
solid ice from New Jersey to Staten
Island. Making due allowance for histor-
zeal Inaccuracies it seems clear that while
the cold spells of late years have been "a
intense as those of 1850 and 1886 their
duration has not been so protractei.
Forests, of course, project the soil from
rapid radiation of its heat and from the
frigorifc downward currents of thu
great "col dwaves." But they must also ma
terially retard the passage of these ''polar
| waves and serve to detajn them longer on
the continent than would be the case were
the soil cleared. The remova! of the for
ests by the spread of civilization and con-
hagrations thus expose the soil to Increased
fluctuations of abnormal cold and heat and
! enables the heavy masses of cold air to
roll over it with greater velocity to the sea.
| We may congratulate ourselves on the lat
ter effect of soil denudation, as it prob
ably gives US winters of higher mean tenn
perature than our ancestors had. But it
| rs not improbable future Investigation
will demonstrate that while we
| thus gain our ''Iniia-r winters: the
precipitation of winter Az spring is re-
duced and the aSrcui:p al seasons open
with disastrous droa .,f,ts. Fo- it is seen
That exceptionally mild xiurers. like those
of 1878, 1880 IN / 19ai-S2, have been
marked by deficieuc es o. wii.tar\ rainfall
and by widespread droash:s, with forest
| fires and ARMY worm inydsIons in the sue
eeeding spring months, and aridity some
times extending far into summer. 1t is to
j be hoped, therefore, that during the CON-
ing winter the preservation of forests will
be made q matter of more effective and in
telilgent legislation than has yet been de-
| vised.