What do we plant when we plant the tree? FACTS ABOUT TREES FOR THE LITTLE ONES From Primary Education (A Recitation) 1. Cutting down trees spoils the beauty of the landscape. I would not like to live where there were no trees. 2. There are few birds where there are no trees. They have no place to make their homes. 3. Taking away the trees takes away the protection from our tender fruit trees. 4. Where there are no trees the snows melt and go off too rapidly; the moisture that should sink into the soil is carried away in floods. 5. Because our forests are taken away we have severe droughts every year. 6. One full-grown elm tree gives out fifteen tons of moisture in twenty-four hours. A large sunflower plant gives off three pints of water in one day. 7. The trees give us lumber, fuel, wood, pulp for newspapers, cork, bark for tanning, wild fruits, nuts, resin, turpentine, oils, and various products for medicines. 8. We should have greater extremes of heat and cold if it were not for the trees and forests. 9. The leaves of trees catch the rain and hold it a little while; then they drop the water a little at a time; this is better for the ground. 10. The old leaves make a deep sponge carpet in the woods, and this keeps the ground from freezing. If the earth does not freeze it takes up the rain better. II. We might have dangerous floods if we did not have trees. The trunks and roots of trees stop the water that comes pouring down the hillside. 12. I will be very careful not to hurt any tree, but will call every tree my friend. FOREST PRESERVATION AND BY JAMES S. WHIPPLE MY DESIRE in writing this article is to interest my readers in the protection of our forests, fish, game animals, and game and song birds. It is, of course, most important that the forest should be preserved, for upon its life depends largely the life of the fish, and the game animals and birds. The necessity for preserving the forest for commercial purposes alone is apparent. There are on public and private lands in this state of New York abou 141,000,000,000 feet of timber, board measure. Last year there were cut and manufactured in the state 1,500,000,000 feet of lumber, taken, of course, from private lands, since a clause in the Constitution prohibits the removal of timber from state lands. But at the same rate of cutting, all the timber in the state, public and private, would not last more than thirty years. To be sure, there is considerable growth going on in the forest, but this is more than offset by the increasing demand for lumber on account of the rapidly growing population, and the increasing use of wood in manufacturing. The first settlers along the Hudson knew something about practical forestry, and the necessity of forest preservation. They had learned it in Holland. On their arrival here they found a great, deep, dark forest stretching westward, how far they did not know. They found it a hindrance and constant threat. It hid their enemies. In order to build, to plant, and to make a place to live, it had to be cut down and removed. It was about this first cutting that the poet wrote, His echoing axe the settler swung Amid the sea-like solitude, And rushing, thundering down were flung The Titans of the wood. The early settlers soon forgot their forestry principles, and the second generation knew little and cared less about them. Billions of feet of good timber were deliberately burned to ashes to get it out of the way. There was great waste, wanton waste, because much timber was taken from lands that could never be used for tillage. An examination of the early colonial laws, the acts of Parliament to the mother country, shows that as far back as 1640 there was a very correct idea of the value of the splendid pine forest that covered the lands of the new world. Yet nothing practical was done until 1885, when a commission was appointed in this state, which commenced the work now carried on by the department which I have the honor to represent. A hundred years previously, however, a commission had been appointed to investigate and report upon the forests of the state and devise some plan to acquire and save some of the forest lands. But nothing came of it and no legislation followed. Surely in this case the Legislature cannot be accused of hasty legislation. If our forests were converted into lumber they would be worth many millions of dollars, but they are worth many millions more if left standing, and managed according to forestry principles. Not only will they then continue to grow, but they will protect the headwaters of our streams, regulate temperature, protect from hot and cold winds, serve as a health and pleasure resort, and furnish a home for game, fish, and song birds. It is time to call a halt on forest destruction, and order a forward march on forest restoration. The great pines once used for spars and planks in the king's ships are all gone. The great oak forests are seen no more. Their grandeur and beauty are known only in legend, song, and story. But a worse disaster is close at hand. In a few years we shall experience the inconvenience of a wood famine. If we would minimize its effects, and prevent the dire results of forest destruction upon the streams, fish and game, we must bestir ourselves. At least two lines of action it is certainly our duty to follow. The state should immediately acquire a million acres more land in the Adirondacks, and five hundred thousand more acres in the Catskills. Then, not only should the state plant millions of trees each year upon its denuded lands, but it should encourage private owners to reforest all ground not good for agriculture. The State should raise and distribute seedling trees, at actual cost, or, if possible, free of cost, to all persons who will plant them according to directions furnished by the state. SPARE THE TREES BY MADAME MICHELET ALAS, in how many places is the forest which once lent us shade, nothing more than a memory. The |