The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1892-02-09

ton of this large area, to meet the r.
quirement ofhis wants, other change
which he neither forcsaw nor desire,
came. The springs and brooks, thu
were perpetual in their purling floy
now dried up in their sources, or ;
times rushed from barred fields i
torrents, threatening all riparian il
terests. The amount of annual rail-
fall has not changed, only the capacit
OF the land to retain it. AS regio
of forests the rain was retained by tn
fallen leaves and cane and under
growth as by sponge, to be give
out slowly. The telling of the forest
too, gave the wind free play, quickl
dissipating the moisture from the sur
face. Our supply of flowing waite
has become more precarious, but til,
most serious result has been III,
changed hygrometric condition of thu
air. 1t is this change that has beer
most injurious TO our agriculture.
While large areas were still prime.
val woodland, their moisture was
slowly dissipated, making the best
possible condition for rapid and Wig
orous vegetable growth. With barred
feds that favor the rapid drainage Of
their water, and little obstruction to
the free sweep of the wind, it is a
natural consequence that we are more
liable to suffer from drought. The un-
thinking assume that the rainfall has
grown less, but the most accurate and
records do not sustain this
theory. The removal of our forests
has destroyed the hidden reservoir
that distilled an unseen current of
moisture into the air.
1t is not likely that the foreboding
Of those, who assume that the de-
struction of the forests of the inter-
basin will render it an
arid waste, will ever be realized.
Forests do not make rainfall-only
it to be slowly distilled into
he air. While the seasons for the
irst settlers were more uniform, and
heir crops grew with vigor, rarely
checked by pinching drought, a CHI
nate approximaling that of the West
I'm plains would not be serious
obstacle to successful agriculture.
But even so great change as this
iced not be feared as a result of de-
Orestation. AS the years roll by our
wealth and population will increase,
md the size of our land holdings will
diminish. Orchards and wooded
awns, and parks, and shaded road
ways are the c0ncomitants of the
highest civilization, and these will re-
,eive our greater care. We may safely
assume that when another century
shall have passed over us the physical
of this great region will
more nearly Approximate its primitive
than now. Such is the case
not only in Europe but in the older
settled parts of the United States.
1t is notable that wherever the mi
grations of man led him into wooded
landa, his first labor was the destruc-
ton Of their forests, that grain and
grass might grow, and orchards. With
the acquisitions Of the necessities, of
life came a longing for its amenities.
An appreciation Of the beauties Of ma
tnre is Unborn, but the development of
the finer tastes. comes only after wealth
has appeascd the grosSer longings.
Horticulture and landscape effort flour
ish more especially where wealth and
population abound. Our progress and
development will be as that of Europe,
and, Notwithstanding our increasing
population, our forest area will en-
large rather than diminish.
The increasing cost Of wood for all
industrial purposes will prove an i'm
portant factor in this interesting prob
lem. Forestry as an investment of
profit is already engaging the attention
not only of our Government, but of
many private investors. The fertile
lands of the Bluegrass will never be
replanted with forest trees for COM
mercial purposes, but many abruptly
rolling sections, worn and eroded by
cultivation, will, as in Massachusetts,,
revert to a primeval condition.
We may then safely assume that the
climate of the Ohio Valley will suffer
10 material change from further de.
forestation. While its wooded area in
some sections may diminish, planting
ann, ~ orriol ,l,IpnpcoC a,I for the