The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-09-20
THE USES OF FORESTS.
why Trees Are Valuable Arart from the
Question of timber supply.

opinion that trees were of value merely
as supplies of timber. and that where
building materials could be easily inn
ported country might, without any dis
advantage. he laid entirely bare. To be
sure a few far seeing individuals, such
as Bernard Palissy. were aware of the
influence of woodlands as regulators of
climate. Similar views We're taken in
antiquity by Critias. who spoke vaguely
of the sickness of the country in conse-
guence of the deforestaton. and.in 1910
10y Fernando Colon. who declared that
the rains in Madeira, the Azores and the
Canaries had become rarer since the trees
had been cut down. But in spite of
these warnings the process of clearing
was carried on in most countries with
reckless haste.
This havoc was not arrested until its
consequences were pointed out 10y Hum
holdt. Bo,issingault and Becquerel. and
by a still more authoritative teacher, ex-
perience, who on this occasion seems to
have charged unusually high school fees.
One of the most important effects of
woods upon climate is that they pro
mote rain. The theory of this process is
not perfectly understood. but the facts
themselves are matters of experience
There are districts on the continent where
the chief rivers have decreased notably
in volume since the clearing of the dis
tricts about their sources We have seen
{; small stream, tributary of the Oder,
which, within the memory of living per
SONS. turned in its course two or three
corn mills AT the time of our visit it
was dry all the summer months. save
Immediately after thunder storm. In
many districts of southern France the
destruction Of the forests has caused
much more striking mischief
The rain. instead of falling as hereto
fore in moderate showers. now comes in
violent glshes. with long periods of
drought between. As the natural conse-
quence. the grasses and other low grow
ing plarts perish. their roots wither away,
AMI the soil. no longer held together by
their fibers, is washed away 10y the occa-
sional violent rains and carried down
into the beds Of the rivers. The hillsides
and the higher plains remain as barren
wastes Of sands gravel and shinge a
similar process has been going on in
Spain, Italy, Greece Algeria. Morocco
and, in short, all around the Medterra-
nean Countries which, were once the
grainaries of the world. and which sup
ported numerous and thriving pop,i.a
ton, are now little better than deserts
Nor has this mischief been confined to
Europe. The vegetable wealth of Soutl,
Africa, when it first became known to
Europeans, was remarkable.
The Cape was the source of num-
bers of our finest greenhouse plants
But now vast tracts have been rendered
so desolate that troop of the colonial
cavalry on the march actually gave three
cheers at the sight of y tree. Even in
the United States, once regarded as emf
nently the land OF forests, many regions
have lost. first their vegetation and then
their soil. in consequence Of tree Telling
1t may, perhaps, here he objected that,
fully admitting all these unfavorable
changes, they may possibly have been
produced by unknown causes, and would
have occurred all the same if the wood
lands had not been interfered with. This
plea can easily he refuted In many of
the countries above mentioned replanting
has been undertaken on large scale by
individuals. by communities. and by
governments, and with ..he most decisive
results.
Wherever such attempts have been
made the climate becomes less extreme,
the rainfall more uniformly distributed,
md public health is improved. Such
beneficial changes have been distinctly
recognized in northwestern India, where
fertility is gradually returning to the
deserts. In France, within about twenty
wears. $50. 900 acres of mountain lands
and nearly the same extent of sandy
coast lands have been replanted of