The lnfcfcor half of
TIIK UKLIANCK the century now
OF PRAIKIK closing witnesses a
AND MAIN. material change in
i the relative area of form , forest and
prairie. In the older states which were
formerly dense woodlands , each succeed
ing year has recorded additional areas
in cultivation as acre by acre the forests
have disappeared before the woodman's
axe.
axe.The
The virgin soil so prized on account of
its productiveness for a few years while
the vegetable mould remains , has long
been exhausted , and only by arduous
toil are moderate crops produced.
Each season now brings protracted
drouth in the Middle States , and fre
quent complaints are made by farmers
that the climate has changed from that
of forty years ago. Streams which
were formerly of largo volume the en
tire year now become dry , or mere riv
ulets , during the summer months. At
the same time , with a hard bare .surface ,
devoid of spongy soil to retain mois
ture , when sudden rains do come the
water rolls rapidly away , swelling the
streams to flood , yet leaving the surface
without adequate moisture to suffice for
growing crops.
In the Trans-Missouri region many
groves were planted by the earlier set
tlers , and others have been established
by many fanners , with noticeable re
sults in the improvement of climatic
conditions ; rainfall has increased and
crops improved in proportion as the
woodlands have been extended.
All this is but a repetition of history.
Europe and the Orient , as well as Amer
ica , have numerous recorded facts de
monstrating the evil effects of forest
destruction , and beneficial results from
extending the woodland areas.
"While vegetation cannot exist without
some degree of moisture , although cer
tain plants flourish in localities which
are quite arid , and under conditions un
favorable to the growth of other species ,
nature has -wisely provided that water
shall be supplied for the support of veg
etable life , and is constantly making
efforts to cover the entire surface of the
land with plants. Masses of trees at
tract moisture and cause precipitation ,
the millions of leaves , twigs and tree
trunks aiding in this attraction , while
the. fallen leaves , mossy logs and under
brush , retain the water for future
supply.
Ten per cent of all the lands in the
plain and prairie region , should be con
verted into woodland. The remaining
portion would bo far more productive
from more careful cultivation , and noth
ing would be lost by devoting one-tenth
to timber.
The principal object in pioneers who
have settled the great western country
has been to provide homes for their
children. How can they better provide ,
than to devote a tenth of the estate to
woodlands , which continue to grow
MHMWM
while they sleep , and which will increase
in value more rapidly than bonds and
interest ?
Twenty years growth will make a
tract of woodland valuable for manu
facturing purposes. There are numer
ous trees in Kansas and Nebraska
planted within twenty years , which
prove that timber has grown to such
size in two decades ; and if planted in
largo quantities , given fair cultivation
in the start , and cared for as they deserve -
servo , will pay better than anything
grown on a farm.
One-tenth of the state in timber would
mean the building up of a manufactur
ing community superior to any in the
older states , whoso timber supply is now
nearly consumed.
While certain manufactures , as f\irni-
ture , require lumber from largo trees ,
yet the most important industries de
mand young growths , from fifteen to
thirty years' age , the wood of which is
strong , elastic and full of life.
Railways are great consumers of wood
in various forms ; the supply is fast
being exhausted. Timber for tliis use
should be growing on the prairies , the
demand will only cease when railways
are abandoned.
Those localities which have for more
than a century been denuding the land
of its timber , camiot bo induced to
plant trees , or even preserve what few
remain , and the "West should take ad
vantage of the situation and create on
the prairie and plain such groves and
woodlands as will supply the continent
with lumber and ties.
Violent winds will be diverted into
higher air currents ; evaporation bo re
duced thereby ; greater regularity in
rainfall will be secured ; springs and
rivulets will bo fed continually as the
spongelike soil of the woodlands per
mits the water to percolate slowly ;
snows melting more gradually will bo of
greater benefit to agriculture ; wliilo the
soil will become , each year , more fertile
by the addition of leaves and vegetable
mould.
By changing the industries of the
state from one purely agricultural , ad
ding the manufactures1 and mechanics'
arts , in the consumption of wood grown ,
in the state , all will enhance the value
of farm productions by providing a
a homo demand for them.
JOHN P. BROWN.
Connersvillo , Indiana.
During the year 1897 the state of Ne
braska shipped for consumption in other
states and in Europe , 70,840,802 bushels
of corn , 18,040,915 bushels of wheat ,
057,942 head of cattle , together with
1,958,752 hogs.
All this bread and meat was produced
on the prairies of Nebraska , known less
than fifty years ago as a part of the
"Great American Desert. " In this case
the desert has certainly been made "to
blossom as the rose , "although there was
never a rose that produced bread and
meat with such celerity and perfection.
THK VALUI-I OF Cultivation of
i-'OKKSTS. the soil embraces ,
agriculture , horticulture and arboricul
ture. The first of this trinity is the real
source of all prosperity and national ad
vancement. But the source can not bo
maintained in its original potency , if all
adjacent or contiguous lands are de
nuded of timber. Treelessness is an
enemy to the farmer.
In Europe the governments have taken
control of the forests. They have es
tablished special bureaus of arboricul
ture. Thus the forests of Europe are
being made instruments of health and
fertility. More than that , governments
derive increased revenues fron the for
ests over there.
Phconicea and other provinces of Asia
and Africa , once fertile in cereals and
in fruits and inhabited by a dense and
prosperous population are now nothing
more than arid deserts. Their forests ,
their prosperity , their existence as poli
tical factors perished together. Spain
with constantly diminishing forests is
rapidly becoming an infertile and arid
desert. In Scotland , however , and in
France , the cultivation of trees has
demonstrated the beneficent influence
of forests ; and oven in Egypt there is a-
preceptiblo increase of rainfall since
tree-planting on a large scale has been
introduced. '
During the year 1897 Otoo county
shipped eastward and southward
3,411,821 bushels of corn , 882,075 bushels
of wheat , 7,000 head of fat cattle , and
88,116 head of hogs. During the same
time Otoo county ground into starch
and cereal goods 1,250,000 bushels of
corn and made into flour about 100,000
bushels of wheat. And during the
same period Otoo county furnished the
Chicago Packing & Provision Co.'s
house with nearly 200,000 hogs.
These facts and figures only faintly
suggest the productive possibilities of
Otoo county when nearly all of our four
hundred and odd thousand acres of land
have been put to their utmost capacity
by improved methods of tillage.
BLIND A sinner suggests
CHAPLAINS. that the House of
Representatives and the Senate of the
Congress of the United States can
be more hopefully and zealously prayed
for by clergymen who cannot look their
members in the face. Few preachers
with good eyes , saith the sinner , would
have the moral courage to invoke wis
dom and blessings on average congress
men whoso habits and morals are not
taught in Sunday schools. The present
chaplains Mr. Milburu and Mr. Condon
are blind.
In the next issue of THE CONSERVA
TIVE there will bo a brief sketch of the
schools in Nebraska City , beginning
with the spring of 1855. For this the
readers will be indebted to W. H. Sldn-
nor , superintendent of public instruc
tion for Nebraslca City.