Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-09-01

the most hostile conditions and which is
just as available for shade and shelter az
trees which are of much greater value Tor
timber.
This subject, in the judgment of the
The Star, is of sufficient importance to
deserve the attention of the legislature,
and as the regular biennial session OF that
body is to be held this comming winter,
it would be well for the press Of Kansas
to give the matter prominence by way OF
newspaper discussion. Every public
highway in Kansas should be lined with
trees, and this could be done at pubic e1-
pense, without a great outlay of money.
1t is estimated that 5000 would plant
100 miles of trees, and If each county in
Kansas should devote this amount OF
money to that purpose the returns in the
aggregate would vastly overbalance the
expenditure. The planting and care OF
the trees could be made part of the duty
of the road overseer, and thus they would
receive the attention necessary to keep
them alive until they were fully rooted
and grounded.
In the light of all that is known relating
to the influence of trees in promoting rain
it is not too much to say that the future
of large section OF Kansas depends upon
their cultivation. It is susceptible of proof
that many productive regions on the Amer
lean continent and in other parts OF the
the world have been rendered arid wastes
by tree-felling, and it is also matter OF re-
cord that many districts have been made
fruitful byI the culture of trees. "The
theory of this process" says scientific
authority upon this subject, sis not per-
fectly understood, but the facts themselves
are matters of experience" It is also
known that trees tend to equalize the rain
fall. In treeless districts the rain
comes in violent rushes with long intervals
of droutb between, while in wooded
countries it is more uniformly distributed
and damaging extremes are thus avoided.
There is no doubt but that the people OF
Kansas by proper effort in this direction
can do much to overcome the hindrancee
under which the state is laboring, and II
the legilature will address itself to this
work in a manner BETTING it's great i'm.
portance, the benefits will be more than
commensurate with the means and labor
OApCuAC0s 11Ao'SStSS \1cC oe"s
The Star has struck a grand sub
ject. It does MOTT can not-over-
state the necessity Of growing trees
in western Kansas. If, however, it
will pick up the Kansas Statutes Of
1887, and read the Forestry law of
this state, the Star will find true
remedy for the ills springing from
the scarcity Of timber in western
Kansas. This constitutes the most
advanced legislation upon the sub
ject Of Forestry which is known to
any portion Of the United States.
Laws Of the general nature of
that which the Star recommends
for Kansas have been passed by the
legislatures of several states. They
have not proved satisfactory. A
bill allowing bounty for the grow
ing OF timber was defeated by the
same legislature which passed the
present Forestry law for this state.
Many members were profuse in
their praise Of the general nature of
this bill as compared with the aims
Of such forestry bills as they had
been used to seeing.
In a thickly-settled region, the
kind of a law which the Star sug-
gests might be applied to some ad-
vantage. In sparsely-settled buff
falo-grass region like western Kan
sas, where the successful growing of
trees requires incessant attention, it
would be strictly inapplicable.