Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-07-19
FORESTRY AssOCIA.
TON.

4xON.
Among all those servants placed at
the disposal Of mankind by nature.
none are more useful than are the
for. SITS The rivers and streams sre
cortr. lied and regulates by them
clint to and rainfall are fqualized
wo ID. lumber and f1el supplied floods,
avslsnches and soil erosion prevented
the winds moderated: and devastatiou
ct fertile tracts of ccu.try checked.
Indeed, the pa experience OF the
human race has positively demon
strated that were it not for the forests
the most fertile and prosperous
countries would soon bs transformed
into desert wastes. unit for human
habitaton.
Befor. the forests of Lebanon were
destroyed. Palestine supported in
aft 1ence ten million people. The
mountains have long been denuded
Forbidding slopes. barren and ugly,
rear their weird forms sharply above
dismal and desolate valleys Scarcely
four hundred Thousand people remain
in all the region. and most of these
are in wretched. hopeless poverty.
Syria, once maintaining multitude
of prosperous towns and citles-An.
tioch having population of half
mjllion-:s at the present scene of
irreparable ruin. The destruction OF
Syria's forests, begun 1850 b. c.,
followe by the disappearance of her
oil and the decay of her industries
would alone have produced this effect.
Baby lon, once capital OF the world, is
a heap. Nineveh and Carthage, once
the seats Of mighty civilization, and
abundantly equipped by generous
nature for permanent life, are
desolate wastes. Man DESTROYED the
forests, and lands which once flowed
with milk and honey were transformed
into deserts.
The destructive changes occasioned
by the agency of man upon the hanks
of the Alps, the Apennines. Pyrenees,
and other mountain ranges In central
and southern Europe and the progress
OF physical deterioration, have be come
so rapid that in some localities. a
single generation has witnessed the
and the end Of the melan-'
cnoly re violation.
1t is certain that a desolatiou like
that which mas overwhelmed many
rnce beautiful and fertile regions Of
Europe awaits an important part OF
the territory of the United States,
unless prompt measures are taken to
check the action of destructive causes
already in operation. &c. P. Marsh
in Man and Nature D. 232.
Forest destruction has reduced fertile
lands to deserts. The DISSOLUTION of the
Karst. a high plateau north of Trieste.
and now one Of the most parched
and barren districts in Europe, was
caused by the cutting Of lis woods to
build the Navies Of Venice
In Wisconsin q veritable desert has
been produced by forest destruction.
A celebrated French traveller, Largeau,
after q careful study of the desert of
Sahara, believes that desert to have
been, at one time, we'll wooded and
waterea. and to have been reduced
to its present condition solely by the
folly and improvidence of man. He ex.
presses his opinion that even now much
Of IL could be restored to fertility.
The forest question involves the
two great questions of wood and
water. Wood is a prime necessity.
Our population IL rapidly increasing,
while our wood supply Is more rapidly
We are consuming wood
three or four times az fast as our
forests are producing it. Cnless
radical changes are soon made in
American methods of forestry, q wood
famine will assuredly easne. Forest
cover on mountains and hilltops is
indispensable In holding back rain
water. and maintaining equable
stream doW. Denuded hillsi les mean
an alteration Of destructive floods and
droughts.