Arboretum to follow -'Calamity'
Vast tracts of country farms being stripp'd of their timber have been rendered uninhabitable, that were once celebrated for their fertility; and, to use the words of a scientific writer "Since the advent of the Christian religion, the physical history of our planet records the steady growth of a desert, which made its appearance in the table land of southern Syria, and gradually spreading eastward down the Euphrates towards Afghanistan; and westward along both shores of the Mediterranian, now esctends from eastern Persia to the western esctremity of Portugal, and sends its harbingers into Southern France, and the southestern provinces of European Russia. Like a virulent cancer the azoic sand drifts of the Moab desert have eaten their way into Southern Europe, and Northern Africa, and dried up the life–springs of districts, which beyond all dispute, were once the garden regions of the earth.
The Mediterranian Sea, once a forest lake of Paradise, is now a dead sea, surrounded by dusty and burning coasts often for hundreds of miles without a vestige of vegetable life. The highlands of Persia and Parthia, once the homes of conquering races who preceded Rome in empire, and successfully repell'd her armies, are now the homes of famine and misery. The once fertile plains of Mesopotamia, and Chaldea are an alluvial desert; Asia Minor, itself once the seat of powerful empires, a treeless region of rocks and ruins; North Africa, the greenery of Rome, a sterile desert; and even Southern Italy, Greece, and Spain only retain a shadow of their former beauty, or of their former population. The preponderance of population of Italy and Spain, has been transformed to the northern portion of those countries, and Greeks exist chiefly by virtue of their commercial and maritime tendencies. Champollion, who traced the course of former rivers and brooks, and found tree stumps upon the plateau of Sidi Belbez in the centre of Sahara, exclaimed, This desert may once have been a region of groves and fountains, and the abode of happy millions. Is there any crime against Nature which draws down a more terrible curse than that of stripping our Mother Earth of her sylvan covering? Earth was Eden once, and our misery is the punishment of our sins against the world of plants. The burning sun of the desert is the angel with the flaming sword who stands between us and Paradise.
In many parts of the United States, recent as is, its settlement, clearing has proceeded too far. The central portions of Ohio, parts of Kentucky and Michigan, and to a greater extent, the cotton growing states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina are becoming arid, with frequent droughts or devastating floods. Is it not time, then, to stay the destroying hand, and to foster rather than destroy? How long will it be before the redwood forests of California cease to exist, and the curse of drought fall on the fertile vallies of the coast range. Henceforth before a man cuts down a tree let him consider well whether it can be spared, remembering that what he can cut down in an hour, perhaps takes hundreds of years to grow.
We must admire the enthusiasm of Dr. C. B. Loring, Comm. of Agriculture, and a few kindred spirits, who, a year or two ago organised a National Forestry Association. Dr. Loring and his coadgitators seek to impress upon the public of the United States the importance of planting forest trees to replace those that are being so rapidly cut down.
< back to page 1 continue to page 3 >
