Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-03-06
BRYANT On FORESTS.
The Utility of Trees, and the Fatal
Effect Of Denudiny q Country
of Them.
New Ysrk Sun.


In a selection from the prose writings
Of the lsts William Cullen Bryant, about
to be issued by the Appletons as part
Of Mr. Bryxnts complete works, we find
an interesting discussion Of the impor-
tant subject that is now attracting so
much public attention and transfer ii
10 our columns. Mr.. Bryant, q, a poet
and lover of nature, was an accurate
student of natural phenomena, and his
testimony to the fatal effect Of dsnudins
country of its trees is we'll worthy Of
quotation.
New York Evening Post, June 90, 1865.
While Congress is occupied with the
disposition OF the public lands, it has
been suggested, by persons who can
think of something else besides railroads
that it will be an act Of provident wis
dom to reserve considerable tracts of
forest in different parts of the country
as the public domain, with view of
preventing the destruction Of trees,
which is 30 rapidly proceeding, and
which may yet lead to incoBvenient con-
sequences. One of the objections to any
such measure as this is the difieulty of
protecting the forests from depreciation.
What is the public domain is regarded
in most parts of our country as, in a
certain sense, common property, from
which any man may take what he has
occasion for. In order to prevent the
trees from being felled and the public
property wasted, body of forssters to
watch it and keep out trespasssrs must
be retained in the pay Of the govern
nent.
We do not propose here to discuss the
merits of any such plan, sut We xould
refer our readers to the extracts we.
have made in another part of this paper
from De. Piper's work on the Trees of
America a. opening a very important
subject for their consideration. We are
fully persuaded. for our part, that scarce
anything is more prejudicisl to the fer
tility Of country, or has worse effect
on its climate, than the thoughtlsss prac-
tico Of denuding it Of trees. The effect
is to open the region to the winds, which
parch the surface and dwarf the vegeta-
ton; to cause the springs to dry up, and
turn the water courses into torrents in
the rainy season, and dusty channels n
the summer and autumn. If the public
could but be thoroughly convinced of
this truth, it might perhaps be unneces-
.ary for the government to give itself
any concern about the matter in the dis
position of the public lands. We should
see the highways skirtsd BY double rows
of trees, long lines of plantation follow
ing the courses of the railroads, belts Of
forest trees planted to break the force
OF the winds and shelter the tender
creps and the orchards which bear the
fruit.
Travellers see in the Orkney and Shet-
land Isles remarkable example of the
unfayorable effects Of the winds on veg
citation, and the kindly influence Of
shelter. There, within the high garden
walls, shrubs and trees grow and flour
ish till their SUBMITS reach the top of
the wall, and beyond that they do not
rise Strong winds sweep almost con-
stantly over the surface of the Islands
and prevent the growth of any vegetable
production except those which flower
and perfect their fruit near the surface.
Within the inelosurs of these stone
fences, where the wind is excluded, or
in hollows which form a.natural screen,
the vegetation is often juicy and luxu-
RANT. or the effect of the destruction
Of forests in drying up a country the Old
World affords many remarkable instan-
ces. The poets and historians Of antiq-
uity speak of mighty forests which are
now shadowles wastes, and of streams
that dow no longer. Addison thus la
meuts the disappearance of rivers and
brooks celebrated in ancient times:
Sometimes. misguided by the tuneful
throng,
L look Tor stream lmmOTtallZed In song
That lost in silence and oblivion lie;
Dumb are their fountains, and their
channels dry,
Yet run forever by the muses. skill,
And, in the smooth description. muir
murs still.
The streams of Attica, now a bare and
treeless region. are for the most part but
mere water courses, in which the rains
pass off to sea, and disappoint those who
form their ideas of them from the an
cient writer's.
The rivers of Spain are for the most
part only channels for the winter rains.
The Gusdalquiver, which some poets call
"a mighty river" enters the sea at Nal.
aga without water enough to cover the
loose black stones that pave its bed. The
Holy Land often missed THE latter rain"
or receives it but sparirglY; and the
brook Kedron is long dry ravine. pass
ing of to the eastward froD Jerusalem
to descend between perpendicular walls
beside the monastery of Mar Saba, to the
valley of Jordan and the Dead Sea. Mr..
Marsh, in his very instructive book en-
titled Man and Nature" has collected
vast number Of instances showing
how. in the Old World, the destruction
Of the forests has been followed by a |
general aridity of the country which |
they formerly oyeTshadowed
Whether there are any examples of |
frequent rains restored to a country by |
4 l. -.