Essex County Herald

Trees and Their Uses.

It is worth considering that while in the thickly-wooded districts of the South and Southwest there has been prevalent during the past four months a marked excess of moisture, in the prairie lands of the West there has and still exists an unprecedented drought.

The injury to property in Louisiana by freshets is well known; in Georgia the rice crop has been flooded and damaged to a very great extent, while in Ohio and other Western and Northwestern States there is not water enough for the stock, which is consequently prematurely marketed.

Several years ago the Hon. George P. Marsh, at present United States Minister to Italy, wrote earnestly, after much thought and study, against the prevailing custom of destroying standing timber without regard to its influence on climate and soil, and especially on the character and extent of the rain-fall. Lately the subject has been frequently considered by scientists, as well as by political economists, who see in the merciless destruction of our forests a possible danger to the sustenance of the race.

Due consideration of the causes which have brought about the abnormal conditions to which we have referred might, with great show of reason, attribute these to the habit of promiscuous and reckless woodchopping. At all events, the subject is sufficiently important, and the indications are clear enough to render it desirable that men of science capable of just and wide generalization even from isolated cases should investigate and report on a matter which may be fraught with great importance to our vast agricultural interests.