The Republican journal., 1910-05-26
An Arbor Day Composition.

The Relation Of Forests to a Country.
tBy Stephen B. Clement Of the Belfast High
| School,
| From the standpoint Of vegetation,
the world may be roughly divided into
forest, grass land and desertA Of these
| three the forests are the most important
to the world, or to any country, for they
bear the most vital of relations toward
that country. !.
One of the most important Of these re-
lations is the conservation of water in the
forest soil. At Nancy, France. it was
proven that water in the ground evapor-
ated five times as fast outside the for
ests as within them. If the forests are
cut down the rivers must dry up; for
when the forests ARE cut the rain will
wash through the soil, or carry the soil
with it, and quickly join the river. Then
there will be no more water in the ground
until the next rain comes. But in the
forests it is different. The forests shield
the rain from sun and wind; and the
strong tree roots, far down in the earth,
form with the soil and dead forest growth
kind of dam through which the water
leaks but slowly, keeping the river al
ways full.
For example:' In Mississippi the farm
er must keep trees planted on his land or
it will wash into deep gullies and become
utterly worthless. In the western deserts
all that the farmer needs to irrigate his
land is small, steady-fowing mountain
stream, but the mountains are bare and
treeless and the water runs off the lodges
as it does off roof. The Rock River,
Wisconsin, was surrounded for about a
third of its length by hardwood forests,
and it supplied power to many mills and
factories. The forests were cut and the
water supply became so decreased that
the mills had to shut down.
Forests are also of value as wind
breaks. In an open country of high
winds, nothing adds more to the comfort
of the home than belt of trees about it.
Whether the wind be the hot blast of
summer or the snow-laden blizzard of
winter. its force is spent on the trees,
and the house is net swept by each pass
ing gust. Orchards need protection from
those terrible hurricanes which come
every year. Gardens, when surrounded
by trees, are surely the most successful,
and here are some Of the reasons why
shelterbelts and windbreaks are being
started in places of the West.
Apart from all these things, forests
afford quiet resting place for man, a
place to spend his vacation in recreation,
pleasant place to hunt and fish, place
in which to listen to the voices of nature
far from the busy city.
But perhaps the most important rela-
ton of all to the country, is the manu-
facture of innumerable things from the
wood and bark and pulp and sap of our
forests. In 1905 alone there were over
81, 100000 wooden cross-ties purchased
by the railroads of the United States;
there were over 2, 400, 00O,00 board feet
of lumber used in the United States
mines, and over 100000 cords of wood
used by pulp manufacturers. In the same
year the wood imports into this country
were valued at more than $95, 900, 900,
and the exports at about SIS, 600, 900.
The trade in wood has increased so much
in these modern days that now the wooC
used each year is many times the new
growth.
Thus we see that the forests cannot
last forever, especially with our present
wasteful numbering methods. Forests
must at some future time give out unless
they are conserved That is why there
are already over $4,000 square miles of
national forests in the United States.
That is why foresters have been appoint
ed and salaried by the United States gov
eminent and forestry schools are being
established
Thus, in the words of ex-chief Fores-
ter Clifford Pinchot, forestry was adopted
chiefly because of ''the need of wood,
the need of protection to stream flow, to
the soil and agricultural crops, the eco
nomic advantage of putting all the land
to its best use, the tendency of private
action to conflict with the public inter-
ests unless education, cooperation, or
regulation is provided by the State, and
the duty of handing on the resources of
the State, the common property of its
people, to the citizens of the future, un-
impaired by reckless use.'
Thi1 1~0- G~