The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1888-12-19
TkgEs, eANlfkaY INFLUENCE.
Their Relation 10 Dwelling Houses and
To Indfvfa,,aI Heath.


Their Relation 20 Dwelling Houses ana
TO Individual Health.
For the last few years public attention
has been quite frequently called to the
| influence OF trees upon climate. The
! special issue of the United States agricul-
1 tural department on forestry, and many
/ other contributions, have shown how
rainfall Is affected, how the balance of
the atmosphere is disturbed and how
climate changes from the extended and
rapid removal of forests. There is an
othef Study Of trees allied to this which
has refereflee to their relation 10 houses
and to individual health.
Both the atmosphere and the soil are
cooled and moistened by the presence of
trees. This results from the drawing up
of the water from khe subsoil and from
the exclusion OF a. e SUMS rays. Besides
this, considerable portion of the rain
fall collects ON the leaves and bfafiEheB
M. Fantiat has shown that the LEAKAGE
of leaf-bearing trees intercepts one-tllird
and that of pine trees one-hnlf of the
rainfalli which is nftetwafd returned to
other hand, these same leaves and
branches restrain the evaporation of the
water which reaches the ground. This
evaporation is nearly four times less
under n mass of foliage in forest, and
Ia times under mass of pines. than
in the open" Then we have staSnatioh
of air from that interruption of wind
currents caused by the foliage.
It is, therefore, not without reason
that the sanitarian studies the trees of
the yard or lawn in their bearing upon
individual health. Persons of suscepti-
bic lungs, or having any tendency to
rheumatism, need to be carefully guarded
against such influences. Where the foli-
age is dense about houses, or where the
limbs overshadow the piazzas or roof,
they become the storage places for damp,
nnwholesome air. The falling leaves
gathering from year TO year give cor
responding dampneS5 to the soil, while at
time of foliage the sunshine is measura-
bly, excluded. 1t is pretty evident that
mankind was not intended to be reared
In the woods. The influence of trees in
causing malaria. or in SO intercepting it
as to have il tarry among them, his long
been known. "a dry garden on gravel
of three acres in extent in Surrey, sur
rounded by trees, is generally three or
six degrees colder than the open COM
mon beyond tlis trees; and large pond
In pine wood twenty miles from Lon
don afforded skating for ninety consecu-
tive days in the winter of 1856, while
during the greater part of the time the
| lakes in the London parks were free from
ice."
! We know with what interest the lover
of trees watches the growth of those
| planted by his own hand, and llo8 hinhy
are apt to be scattered about the hew
home mansion. AS years go on, and
their growth and foliage increase, the
/
to shorten their branches. If SO, there
is great danger that the dry soil and once
comfortable home will come to be the
dampest and least desirable spot in the
neighborhood. A recent careful writer
has given the following sensible direction
as to tree planting rs it bears upon the
conditions of health; "a tree should not
stand SO near a house that if il were to
| fall it would fall upon the house,
or, in other words, the trunk
should be as far from the house
rs the height of the tree. Belts of
trees may be planted on the north and
east aspects of houses, but on the east
side the trees should not be so near
Nor so high as to keep the morning sun
/ %oal the bedroom windows in the shorter
| da q Of the year. On the south and west
1 asp,~.t5 of houses, isolated trees only
1
be free ;.acess of the sunshine and of the
west wt1lt..: TO the house and grounds
High wall I'D palings on these aspects
are also Objectionable, and should he re-
! placed by fences, or. better still, by open
palinSs, especially II the houses are oc-
cupied during the fall of the leaf and i'll
the winter.
Trees for planting .. ,ould be chosen in
! the following order: Conifers, birch,
acacia. beech, oak, elm, linn, and poplar.
For our American homes we must add
| the maple, the ash and the tulip tree, or
American poplar, although the dense
| foliage of the maple is sometimes OBJ
| jcctionable. Pine trees collect he
greatest amount of rainfall and permit.
the freest evaporation from the ground,
while their branchless stems offer the
least degree of resistance to the lateral
circulation of the air. Acacias, oaks and
birches are late to burst into leaf, and
therefore allow the ground to be warmed
by the suns rays in the early spring. The
| elnls lime and chestnut are the least de-
sirabie kind of trees toplant near houses
! They come into leaf early and cast
their leaves early, SO that they exclude
| the spring sun and do not afford much
! shaac m the hot autumn months, when
II IS often required. Trees are of value
IN indicating choice of residence. Rich
| foliage, ferns and moses tell of damp
ness and alluvial deposits. Flowers and
| fruit trees point TO dry and sunny site.
| Children will be healtlliest where most
flowers grow. and old people will live
| longest where our common fruits ripen
best. Pines and their companions, the
birches, indicate n sandy or gravel soil,
elms rich and somewhat damp
soil, oaks and ashes a heavy clay, pop
lars and willows q low, damp or marshy
soil. Let then our aesthetics be tenn
pered by our desires for health, and.
choice and abundance of trees be adapted.
to our sanitary needs. - Medical Clnssics.
From Quaint Old santuc,xst.
Apropos of Nantucket, one hears some
rather odd sa7inps and of son,e Quaint