Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-07-31

In the progress Of the Increase Of pop
ulation in a country, more especially IN
der those circumstances which, taken jD
the aggregate, we call civilization, there
must be more or less interference, says
the Sanitary Engineer, with natural sur
face topography. Man is a great dis
turber of things, and, unfortunately, the
changes which he brings about are not
always for the better. Among these
changes, some Of the most important,
both In their immediate and their remote
results, are those connected with the de-
structiOn Of the forests with which large
portions of the earth now comparatively
or entirely bare Of trees were once cover
ed. As population increases, the need
Of food supply requires that forests shall
give for agricultural purposes, and GER
tain amount of destruction is therefore
inevitable; but no one who is familiar
with the process Of stripping the hills
and valleys Of their natural growth Of
trees, which has been going on with an
accelerating ratio in this country during
the present century, can doubt that much
Of this has been unnecessary, that we
have been prOdigally wasting our inheri-
lance, and that it is high time that steps
"GAo el---GA-8 --1- JILL ~ kJADHN--e ---- -@-S-
unnecessary destruction, but also, by
systematic planting, TO repair sons Of
the damage which has been already
done.
The presence of forests mOdifies the
climate IN their immediate vicinity, tend
ing to prevent extremes of temperature,
and often of moisture, and in this man
ner they may affect the character and
severity OF the diseases Of a particular
locality. They protect from violent
winds, and, to some extent, from malarial
influences. Their influence upon tenn
perature is to prevent wide variations be
tween day and night, such as occur up
IN desert and arid plains; they store
heat by day and radiate it slowly at
night.
But 1t is not only to localities in their
own immediate vicinity that forests are
important. Their value is perhaps even
greater TO distant regions, the water sup
ply Of which they regulate and control.
This regulation is effected, not so much
by any great influence eZerted by them
upon the total amount Of rainfall in their
vicinity, or by any effect which they pro
ducs upon the total annual evaporation
from the surface which they cover, as It
is by the fact that they tend TO form, by
their roots, the plants which flourish in
their shade, and the collection of dead
leaves, etc, a sort of huge sponge which
retains for a time the water falling upon
it, and afterward give it OF gradually,
supplying springs and streams. In this
way they tend to prevent great varia-
tons in the size Of streams flowing from
them, and thus to avert floods and
droughts; they are the regulators of the
water supply Of distant places lying at
lower levels IN the drainage areas In
which they flourish.
In view Of these facts, It is evidently
important that those parts Of the coun-
try where culture is either impossible or
Improbable shall be devoted to trees,
that a Wabchful care should be exercised
over these regions to prevent unnecessary
and useless destruction to the timber by
fires, etc, and that the systematic plant
ing Of trees TO replace those taken for
manufacturing purposes should be en-
cOuraged as far as possible. This plant
ing Of trees must IN fact become in this
country a commercial necessity at no
very distant day, for the prices Of the
lumber needed for our houses, furniture,
and for the transportation Of goods VIII
before long rise to such a point as to
make tree culture a profitable and essen
tial branch Of industry.