The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-20
The Value of Trees.


orange Judd Farmer.
Professor c. Y. Lacy, in an address be-s
fore the Minnesota State Forestry Associa-
ton, set forth the value and necessity of
planting portions of the prairie regions
with forests in the following clear and con-
else manner: 1t is said that the winds are
too violent: that there is no wood for fuel,
and no material for fencing; that the land
scape is too dreary and monotonous: that
there are no trees to give it homelike APP
pearance; it is too lonesome; that il is too
cold; that you cannot raise fruit: that it is
unhealthy; that the forests which now
supply US with lumber for building and
manufacturing purposes are fast melting
away before the woodman's ak. Every
year we hear of hail storms do
ing extensive injuries; of floods
and freshets carrying away
bridges and dwellings, and destroy
ing growing crops and human life; OF the
injurious effects of long continued drouth;
of the substitution of improved water
wheels for those that formerly gave suffi-
Gent power, and finally the complete SUBJ
stitution of steam for water-power in
mills and manufactures; appeals for the
improvement of commercial water routes.
All these indicate imperfections common
ly supposed to be without natural remedy;
reason. that they are the natural remedy
for some OF these imperfections, and the
natural means of relief in the case of
others. They break the force and melt
the fury OF the winds, and thus afford
shelter and protection TO man and beast;
supply fuel and material for fencing; give
homelike character to the prairie that is
otherwise dreary and mononous; mitigate
the cold of winter and the heat of summer;
improve the conditions for fruit-growing;
improve the sanitary character of some To-
calities; supply lumber for building and
manufacturing purpose; diminish insect
injuries and the injuries of hail-storms.
IL is claimed that forests affect favorably
the water supply of a region; diminish the
destructive effects of freshets; reduce the
injurious effects of drought; increase the
flow of springs; equaliZe the quantity of
water in our mill and navigable streams
and distribute the rainfall throughout the
year. 1t has been abundantly shown in
many states that trees can be grown in
large numbers or in small, on any
soil that will produce ordinary farm
crops. This is all that is re-
quired to establish several of the
above claims. Every one has observed the
capacity of trees to break the force of
winds, and to supply fuel and material for
fencing. All who have travelled over the
prairies know how welcome is the sight of
more homelike Is house surrounded with
trees than one standing alone. If forests
break the force of the winds, We are pre-
pared to understand how they mitigate
cold for We all know how much colder it
seems in windy than in calm weather
If forests break the force of winds and
modify the cold OF winter, they certainly
improve the conditions for the growth of
fruit. Horticulturists are pretty well agreed
upon the value of q protecting forest
either natural or artificial. In paper read
before the American Public Health Associ-
alton DR.. George ID. Andrew concluded that
forests and tree belts are of undoubted
value in preventing the dissemination of
malaria: that trees are of positive sani-
tary value in affording shelter from the
excessive heat of the sun, from the vio-
lence of the winds, and in promoting
aesthetic culture" There is little doubt
that forests diminish insect injuries. In
sects do not multiply SO rapidly in and
near the woods, for there the birds, the
consumers of insects, build their nests and
find protection. Marsh says: 1T is only
since the telling of the forests of
Asia Minor and Cyrene that the locust
has become so fearfully destructive in
those countries" 1t is well established,
too, that the native breeding places of our
locust are the barren plains, and not
forest-covered regions. 1t has been found,
too, that the locust plague is less severe in
and near forests than on the open prairies
And there is good evidence that forests
render hail storms less frequent and Sc
| we're Han storms on the plains of ON
hardy are more frequent than before the
clearing of the forests on the Alps and APP
pennies. and in several other provinces of
Europe hail storms are believed to be more
frequent and destructive since the clearing
OF forests In their immediate vicinity.