Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-09-20
Use of Forest

Some time back the world was of the
opinion that trees were of value merely
Is supplies OF timber. and that where
! BUILDING material could be easily i'm
/ ported country might, without any dis
! advantages, be laid entirely bare. 70 be
sure, few far seeing individuals. such as
bernard Paiissy, were aware of the in
duenee OF woodland as regulators of
ctinate. Similar views were taken in an
| tlqQIty by Ccitlus who spoke vaguely of
! the sickness of the country in conse-
quence OF the deforestation. and in I540
By Fernando Colon, who declared that
the rains IN Madeira, the Azores and the
CanaTies 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 nv
Humboldt, Bousingault and Becqurel, and
by a still more authoritative teacher, ex-
perience, which on on this occasion seems
to have charged unusually high school
fees. One of the most i'm portland 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 ere 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
g small stream, q tributary to the Odor,
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 i'm,
mediately after a thunderstorm. In
southern France the destruction of the
forests has caused more striking dam
age.
| The rain instead of falling as hereto
| fore, in moderate showers, now comes in
violent rains, with long periods of drouth
between. AS a natural consequence the
| grasses and other Iow-growing plants
| perish, their roots wither away and the
soil, no longer held together by their
| hbers, is washed away by the occasional
violent rains and carried down into the
bed of the rivers. The hillsides and the
higher plains remain as barren waists of
sand, gravel and shingle. A similar pro-
cess has been going on in Spain. Italy,
Greece, Algeria, Morocco and, in short,
ali around the Mediterranean. Coun-
tries which were once the granaries of the
world and which supported a numerous
4
better than deserts. Nor has this mis-
chief been confined to Europe. The veg
etable wealth OF South Africa when it
first became know to Europeans was re-
markable.
The cape was the source of numbers of
our finest green house plants. But now
vast tracts have been rendered so desc
late that {. troop of the colonial cavalry
on the march actually gave three cheers
at the sight of a tree. Even in the
United States, since regarded as eminen-
tly the land of forests, many regions
have lost, first their vegetation and then
their soil, in consequence of tree telling.
1t may, perhaps, here be objected that,
fully admitting all these unfavorable
changes, they may possibly have been
| produced by unknown causes, and would
have occurred all the same is the wood
lands had not been interfered with. This
plea can easily be refuted. In many of
TIE countries above mentioned re LIANT
| ing has been undertaken on a large scale
| of individuals, by communities. and by
governments, and with the most derisiye
results.
Whenever such attempts have been
made the climate becomes less extreme,
the rainfall more uniformly distributed,
and pnblic health is improved. Such
beneficial changes have been distinctly
recognized in north western India, where
fertility is gradually returning to the Ges-
erts. In France, within about 20 years,
$4,000 acres of mountain lands and near
ly the same extent of sandy coast lands
have been replanted-of course at great
! expense, but with the most satisfactory
results. In America, also, replanting is
| being vigorously carried on. An emin-
ent agricultural authority In the United
States has given it as his opinion that if
one fourth of a country is left covered
with 'rees the remaining three fourths
will yield better return in the shape of
crops than it would if stripped bare.