The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-03
THE BEAUTIES OF FORESTS
4 TALK ON ONE OF NATURES AR-
 IISTIC SETTINGS.

LLSIIC SETIINGS.
 sublimity of the Landscape When the
 Sunshine Lights Up Vale and Hill
 Mans Ruthless Axe-C Chemical Changes
 in Trees.
 All natural beauty demands an artis- tic setting, and no landscape is com plete without background of forest trees. There Is charm in the cool forest shades that can not be found elsewhere. A beauty not found in any architectural decoration created by human hands and genius, can be found in the forest.
 We love the cities and crowded dwell ing places of men, and then there must be social law connected with forestry for all trees naturally cluster together, and it is not natural for tree to stand alone. They generally get together either in groves of beautiful shade trees or in the still more extensive for ests of earth.
 Where ever trees grow luxuriantly the soil is generally fertile and can be made to produce vegetables, growths for the food of man and animals. There will be a fertility not known in the soil of the barren plains, for wher- ever forests grow luxuriantly the land Will prove good for either grass or grain. There is a healthy influence in the atmosphere around forest trees. They attract all the gaseous elements and utilize them in their growth. Even the flowers that bloom beneath their sheltering branches partake of their beauty and sublime influence. | Many of the forest flowers have no odor while others have a strong per- fume like that of the lilac and syringa, which are naturally forest growths transplanted to gardens, that their sweet subtle fragrance may be enjoyed in the wildwood,
 Flowers and shrubs have a wonderful power when reduced to ashes by fire or | decay, for the fertilization of the soil l from which trees receive their fertility and luxuriant growth. There are more clements connected with the for l est flowers and undergrowth than sci- ence has recorded.
 This is true in southern climes, where l the cactus blossom and the magnolia with their rich colors and splendid fra grance enriches the whole atmosphere of the forests. Reduced to a state of decay they add their offerings with those of the fringed gentian and other autumnal wild flowers to the other substance, which furnish plant-food for the majestic trees that seem to give them shelter, asking nothing in return.
 The wild flowers and fallen leaves l combined with the elements in the at- mosphere give the forest trees their nourishment. "Cut down like the for est weeds refers to the undergrowths of vegetation-and the weeds of the forests with other small, beautiful | things in great varieties--leaves, plants and flowers mingled together in the autumnal and winter seasons, makes up the substance of dainty food for the forest trees whose roots absorb from the soil all that is decayed and re- turned to dust.
 Noses and ferns, wood-plants with long flores, missiles, flowers and weeds decayed trunks of fallen trees, all min- gle with the rain, and other atmos7 pheric elements which combine to give the necessary food to the forests of the earth both ancient and modern
 There is great deal of moisture in leaves, and even when they are decay
 ing they gather and hold the moisture
 which comes to earth in the autumnal
 rains to purify all the vegetable mat
 ter in fields and forests. This sub-
 stance furnished by ,decayed matter is
 more than sufficient to furnish the vi
 tai forces needed to sustain the trees.
 The older growths have longest roots
 which strike deeper and deeper into the
 soil every season. Autumn leaves fal
 early in northern climates-more SC
 than in warmer places. There arc
 some of the forest trees that do no shed their leaves The forest ever. greens in hot climates leaves of trees and the bushes remain on all the veal
 round, and have no stated time to fall In the southern part of Europe some of the forest trees are evergreens
 Quinces and current bushes in hot eli | round Northern climates are noted for the early fall of leaves and tht
 brilliant colors of the autumn leaves caused by the sap turning into acids
 The maple leaf, the oak and elm, asl
 and walnut trees are among the flores
 trees noted for the brilliancy of thei : leaves in autumn, the green minglins beautifully with the bright red of tn, maple leaves, the still more brillian [ yellow of the walnut and other tree $ which have leaves variously colored and all mingle in the plantfood formed 2 by natural law for the substances O the forest trees that depend upol earth and air for their vitality. The maple is one of the most valua ble of all the forest trees. Its leave are particularly beautiful in form, ant they are artistically lovely in the au r tumnal season. The top is first t l change. The leaves have the appear ance of red flowers and are more bril- liant in color than many of the gardel 1 flowers, and when illuminated by tn 3 sunshine they add greatly to the beau l ty and sublimity of the forest land : scape. There is no scene more beauti 9 ful than that presented by our Ney ) England forests in the autumn seasons l when sunshine lights up every hill an
 valley, when the tops of tall trees clus