12 The Conservative *
ruisiuviNO : TIII : FOKKSTS.
[ Addre-s delivered at Hancock County ( Ind. )
Farmers' Institute , discussing the relation of
forests to agriculture. Instances drawn
from the history of other states and nations. ]
The following is a synopsis of the address -
dress as delivered by John P. Brown :
1. Bodies of timber modify the in
fluences of vigorous climate ; the heat
stored away by growing trees is retained
during the winter , and aids in equaliz
ing the temperature , while the shade
cast in summer is cooling. Extremes of
temperature occur when air currents
move from a cold to a warm locality , or
the reverse. The forests , by breaking
the force of the lower currents , throw
ing them upward , moderate the effect
of the changes. Ranges of mountains
act as barriers against the sweeping violence
lence of wind-storms ; in like manner mas
ses of trees guide and control the elements ,
disarming them of their harmful char
acter. Wintry winds and storms are
often injurious to vegetation. A heavy
shelter belt of forest trees so tempers the
frosts of spring and winter that its ef
fect upon fruit and young plants is
greatly reduced.
2. From Kansas and Nebraska , south
into Texas and Mexico , is a vast stretch
of treeless sands and prairie , which , in
summer time , becomes intensely hot.
Heated winds occasion vast damage to
vegetation and suffering to animal life.
All this could be overcome if heavy
belts of timber were planted to break
the continuity of this heated sirocco.
! 5. A certain quantity of water is
necessary for the development of all
living plants. If this is reduced by
evaporation , crops are seriously injured.
Forests , b } * checking the velocity of the
wind at the surface of fields , lesson
greatly the evaporation. There is al
ways water present in dense woods , be
cause it is not evaporated rapidly.
4. Forests undoubtedly influence
rainfall , although some scientists deny
this fact , as they have denied all prom
inent laws of nature which could not be
understood. Gravity was ignored ;
rotundity of the earth , and electricity ,
for centuries. In France , Germany ,
Egypt , Utah and elsewhere rainfall has
increased after large plantings of trees
were planted. While Syria now is a
desert , unable to support a small popu
lation , it was formerly a densely popu
lated agricultural region , ruled over by
three most noted kings David , Solo
mon and Hyrum , of Tyre. Wheat , bar
ley , the vine and olive were largely cul
tivated. The end came when the Le
banon mountains were stripped of their
timber. As rain clouds passing over a
region of country , come in contact with
a mountain range having a low temper
ature , rain or snow is precipitated , and
so in a timber region where the leaves ,
twigs and branches are of a lower tem
perature , they cause precipitation.
5. The influence of forests on springs
i.s more readily observed. Moisture is
absorbed by the soft , springy mass of
leaves and decaying vegetation , which
compose the soil and sub-soil of a for
est , and this must all become saturated
before any moisture will escape. Grad
ually , this water percolates down
through the more porous materials until
it meets with an impervious strata ,
along which it flows to the springs.
( J. This conservation of moisture is
of vast importance to the agriculturist ,
whose labors for the entire year depend
on a regular and ample supply of mois
ture for his growing crops ; to the or-
chardist , for the withholding of water
during the summer months means a
short crop of fruit. It means every
thing to the state , for all classes of people
ple feel the effect of a protracted
drouth.
7. Where large areas of elevated
lands are covered with trees , they sup
ply moisture to the fields at a lower
level , not only through springs , but
spread out over the strata which it is
following , and is by capillary attraction
drawn up to the surface soil for plants.
It is this continuous supply of flowing
water that siapports the grass and grain
during long , hot and rainless seasons.
The fallen leaves and vegetation fertil
ize the lower lying fields , as they are
blown by winds and carried by rains
and lodged among the plants. They re
tain the snow longer , and it is absorbed
by the soil.
8. Next to drouth , insect depreda
tions are most injurious to farm crops.
Forests enable birds to live and breed ,
and thus the insects are reduced. As
forests are destroyed , birds are driven
away , and disaster is invited by a vast
increase in bugs and worms.
9. Economic uses of wood on the
farm. While we no longer use wood
for fuel , yet all agricultural implements ,
tool-handles , wagons and carriages ,
must bo of wood , and always will be ,
and they will be in demand in future.
10. As protection to stock from
storms nothing is so well adapted as a
strong wind-break of forest trees about
the barn yard and pasture field.
11. In the vast sand plains of Russia ,
where the sands are shifting , the gov
ernment successfully planted large quan
tities of Alanthus trees , thus reclaim
ing much land for pasture and farm
operations. Our Western plains may
be so improved and the sand dunes on
Lake Michigan may be fixed and enabled
to grow grasses and crops.
12. There are leading causes in na
tional history , the influences having
vast magnitude , yet they are overlooked
by historians and statesmen. The
mountain regions of Spain were
formerly covered with timber which
maintained the fertility of the soil , fed
the springs , regulated the flow of
streams , and equalized the temperature.
When the forests were removed all was
changed , and agriculture ceased to be
7T7T
profitable. The farmers became herders
of goats and cattle , which destroyed the
young growths , thus preventing nature
from restoring the forests. The nation
was driven to navigation as a pursuit
the subjugation of far distant island
possessions and centuries of crime and
mismanagement followed. The final
loss of all outside possessions came as a
direct result of this forest destruction.
18. And now , in America , where the
timber has been largely cleared away ,
and the land cultivated for many years ,
the vegetable matter accumulated dur
ing centuries of forest growth , has grad
ually become exhausted , feeding many
successions of farm crops ; available
mineral supplies have also been con
sumed , and powerful decomposing
agents , in the form of commercial ferti
lizers , must now bo used , unsatisfactor
ily. From two to five tons in crops
have been removed annually 200 tenser
or more in fifty years' cultivation , with
slight return at best. If one acre in ten
were restored to timber , and a long sys
tem of rotation were instituted , the soil
would be renewed , and improved con
ditions for farming result.
14. Each state must solve the prob
lem for itself. The national govern
ment refuses to act. Shall Indiana pro
tect some of her remaining forests ; or
will she continue to tax them out of
existence ? Indianapolis News.
J. Sterling Morton in THE CONSERVA
TIVE has an excellent article showing
the utter unteimbleness of the cry that is
raised by a certain class of politicians on
every occasion against some great octo
pus that holds as they allege , the inter
ests of the people in its grasp , dooming
them to certain disaster and which they
usually style "the money power. " Mr.
Morton's keen analysis is all the more
telling from the fact that he is as loyal
to Nebraska as any citizen in the state.
It is refreshing that right in the very
citadel , as has been supposed of free sil
ver and populism , is found a foeman
whose steel is as pointed and able as can
be found against the political heresies
that have dominated so many minds.
In the first place Mr. Morton admits that
there is such a thing as a money power
and tells what it has done right on the
prairies of the West. Ho says , "This
money power is a very old power. Years
ago it loaded steamboats with steel rails
for roads in Nebraska. The money
power flung out into the plains its vast
network of car paths as easily as the
spider spins its gossamer threads and
floats them into space. Lands which
were valueless and desolate , solitudes
which wore unpeopled and voiceless ,
sprang into. value and beauty , became
human homes filled with melodies of
contented industry. The money power
converted Nebraska from wilderness and
wigwam to fields , orchards , gardens and
homes. " Norfolk Daily News.
1 ' *