Speaker 1: Chapter eleven of ten Common Trees. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: by AVAI in May two thousand fifteen. Ten Common Trees
Speaker 1: by Susan Stokes, Chapter eleven, Forests and their Preservation. The
Speaker 1: forests of America have been rapidly depleted in the past century.
Speaker 1: At one time they were thought to be inexhaustible. This
Speaker 1: has been found not to be the case. The young
Speaker 1: timber does not grow so rapidly as to replace that
Speaker 1: which has been removed. This is in part due to
Speaker 1: the growth of industry, and in part to the wasteful
Speaker 1: use of trees. The industries depending upon the products of
Speaker 1: trees are so numerous, and the necessity for renewing the
Speaker 1: trees so self evident, that the government has been obliged
Speaker 1: to study the subject thoroughly. Large quantities of timber are
Speaker 1: used in building, manufacturing, fencing, for railroad ties, and fuels.
Speaker 1: The bark is used in the tanning of leather. Turpentine, pitches,
Speaker 1: and sugar are derived by tapping the trees. The most
Speaker 1: considerable waste is due to forest fires and the ruthless
Speaker 1: cutting of timber on the public lands. Charcoal is frequently
Speaker 1: burned without any attempt to preserve the gases, which would
Speaker 1: be of value for illuminating purposes. One of the first
Speaker 1: effects of removing the forests in a neighborhood has been
Speaker 1: the necessity of bringing in lumber from other localities. This
Speaker 1: increases its price. It is, however, in its final effects
Speaker 1: upon a country that clearing the hills has proved most detrimental.
Speaker 1: It has been found that clearing districts are not so
Speaker 1: warm in winter as before the hills were bared. This
Speaker 1: has caused a failure in crops formerly successful. In northern Illinois,
Speaker 1: the climate was so altered by the removal of woods
Speaker 1: that the peach crops were seriously injured. Winter weed was
Speaker 1: killed in open fields, but was successful were protected by
Speaker 1: the woods. Thus, in winter, the trees break the winds
Speaker 1: and moderate the cold. In summer, they reduce the heat
Speaker 1: and lessen the danger from storms. Since the removal of trees,
Speaker 1: many localities which were formerly free from storms are visited
Speaker 1: by storms of great violence. Forests produce conditions leading to rain.
Speaker 1: The evaporation from the soil and leaves, cools the atmosphere
Speaker 1: and tends to precipitate the moisture. This rain does not
Speaker 1: run off at once, as it often does in the
Speaker 1: open fields, the ground being meallow and loose, it sinks
Speaker 1: and is gradually fed out to springs and streams. Snow
Speaker 1: is falling in the forest melt but slowly, and so
Speaker 1: a supply of water is maintained for the summer. Where
Speaker 1: woods have been replanted, the irregular rainfalls and frequent droughts
Speaker 1: observed since clearing have disappeared, and more favorable conditions prevail. Birds, too,
Speaker 1: are wont to nest in woods. They desert the clearings
Speaker 1: in such numbers that crops are injured by the insects
Speaker 1: they used to destroy. It is for these reasons that
Speaker 1: the government encourages the planting of trees. It has made
Speaker 1: favorable terms to settlers who cultivate trees. Various states are
Speaker 1: doing what they can to remedy the evils brought about
Speaker 1: by the indiscriminate cutting of trees. The strictest laws are
Speaker 1: issued to control the setting of fires in the woods
Speaker 1: and to prevent their spreading. The treeless character of the
Speaker 1: prairie regions is thought to be due to the burning
Speaker 1: of the trees by the Danse Indians. The old timber
Speaker 1: culture laws were not an entire success, for trees were
Speaker 1: planted without care and without regard to their adaptability. This
Speaker 1: is now remedied so far as possible. Investigation has decided
Speaker 1: which trees are suitable in certain localities. There are in
Speaker 1: almost every place some parts which would be more profitable
Speaker 1: in trees than in the usual crop, but they must
Speaker 1: be cared for. They cannot be neglected as they have
Speaker 1: been in times past. Trees are also planted largely as
Speaker 1: wind breaks in prairie regions, and some experiments have been
Speaker 1: made to redeem certain beach tracts from the encroaching sands
Speaker 1: by planting trees which will resist the winds to prevent
Speaker 1: floods and shortage of water during the summer. The government
Speaker 1: has made laws which are designed to stop the cutting
Speaker 1: of trees upon public lands, except under definite regulations. These
Speaker 1: look to the preservation of the young trees and the
Speaker 1: ultimate recovering of the hills with a growth of trees.
Speaker 1: References reports upon Forestry, Department of Agriculture Forests of North
Speaker 1: America see as Sergeant Government report. This gives fine maps
Speaker 1: of the wooded districts in each state, with the character
Speaker 1: of the trees found in each. End of Chapter eleven,
Speaker 1: end of Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes