Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-11-22

mOrasses."
In his third chapter, entitled "The
Woods" he sets forth exhaustively the
Importance of forests to the fertility of
country. especially mountainous
country, and the evils which haye fol-
lowed and may be expected to follow
the destruction of forests. | cannot pre-
sent even an epitome of the information
there collected, but | think the people
of Vermont should ponder well what he
has laid before them and heed his warn
ings before 1t is too late. The titles of
some of his subdivisions indicate the
Importance of the subjects which he con-
siders, "Influence of the Forest on the
Humidity of the Soil; !" "In1uence of
the Forest on the Flow of Springs !"
"The Influence of the Forest on Inunda-
tions;" obstructive Action of For
ests;', "Mountain Sldes;'' 'Principal
Causes of the Destruction of the For
est;" utility of the Forest" From
one title, General Consequences of the
Destruction of the Forest" | must quote
largely. "With the disappearance of
the forest all is changed. At one sea-
son the earth parts with its warmth by
radiation to an open sky--receives, at
another, an immoderate heat from the
unobstructed rays of the sun. Hence
the climate becomes excessive, and the
soil is alternately parched by the fer
vors of summer, and scared by the rig
ors of winter. Bleak winds sweep I'M
resisted over its surface, drift away the
snow that sheltered it from the frost,
and dry up its scanty moisture. The
precipitation becomes as irregular as the
temperature, the melting SHOWS and
vernal rains, no longer absorbed by a
loose and bibulous mould, rush over the
frozen surface, and pour down the val
leys seward, instead of filling a rcten-
tive bed of absorbent earth, and storing
up supply of moisture to feed peren-
NAL springs. The soil is barred of its
covering of leaves, broken and loosened
by the pillow, deprived of the fibrous
rootlets which held it together, dried
and pulverzed by the sun and wind, and
at last exhausted by new combinations.
The face of the earth is no longer II
sponge, but dust heap, and the floods
which the waters of the sky pour over
it hurry swiftly along its slopes, carry
ing in suspension vast quantities of
earthly particles which increase the
| a nd n1,o ,c
the current, and augmented by the sand
and gravel of falling banks, fill the beds
of the streams, divert them into new
channels and obstruct their outlets.
The rivulets, wanting their former reg
ularity of supply and deprived of the
protecting shade of the woods, are heat
ed, evaporated, and thus reduced in their
summer currents, but swollen to raging
torrents in autumn and in spring. From
these causes, there is a constant degra-
dation of the upands, and consequent
elevation of the beds of watercourses
and of lakes by the deposition of the
mineral and vegetable matter carried
down by the waters. The channels of
great rivers become unnavigable, their
estuaries are choked up, and harbors
which once sheltered large navies are
shoaled by dangerous sandbars. The
earth, stripped of its vegetable glebe,
grows less and less productive, and con-
sequently less able to protect itself by
weaving new network of roots to bind
its particles together, "A new carpeting
of turf to shield it from wind and sun
and securing rain. Gradually it becomes
altogether barren. The washing of the
soil from the mountains leaves bare
ridges of sterile rock, and the rich or
ganic mould which covered them. now
swept down into dark low grounds, pro-
notes a luxuriance of aquatic vegeta-
ton that breeds fever, and more insidi-
Gus forms of mortal disease, by its de-
cay, and thus the earth is rendered no
longer fit for the habitation of man.
TO the general truth of this sad picture
there are many exceptions, even in coun-
tries of excessive climates. Some of
these are due to favorable conditions of
surface, of geological structure, and of
the distribution of rain; in many others,
the evil consequences of mans IMPROVE
dence have not yet been experienced,
only because a sufficient time has not
elapsed, since the telling of the forest,
to allow them to develop themselves.
But the vengeance of nature for the
violation of her harmonies, though slow,
is sure, and the gradual deterioration of
soil and climate in such exceptional re-
gions is as certain to result from the de-
structions of the woods as is any natural
effect to follow its Cause
Again with reference to the destruct-
great, the irreparable, the appalling
mischiefs which have already resulted,
and threaten to ensue on a still more
i've action of torrents he says "But the
extensive scale hereafter, from too rapid
superficial drainage, are of a properly