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<v Speaker 1>Chapter eleven of ten Common Trees. This is a LibriVox recording.

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<v Speaker 1>All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more

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<v Speaker 1>information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording

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<v Speaker 1>by AVAI in May two thousand fifteen. Ten Common Trees

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<v Speaker 1>by Susan Stokes, Chapter eleven, Forests and their Preservation. The

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<v Speaker 1>forests of America have been rapidly depleted in the past century.

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<v Speaker 1>At one time they were thought to be inexhaustible. This

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<v Speaker 1>has been found not to be the case. The young

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<v Speaker 1>timber does not grow so rapidly as to replace that

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<v Speaker 1>which has been removed. This is in part due to

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<v Speaker 1>the growth of industry, and in part to the wasteful

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<v Speaker 1>use of trees. The industries depending upon the products of

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<v Speaker 1>trees are so numerous, and the necessity for renewing the

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<v Speaker 1>trees so self evident, that the government has been obliged

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<v Speaker 1>to study the subject thoroughly. Large quantities of timber are

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<v Speaker 1>used in building, manufacturing, fencing, for railroad ties, and fuels.

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<v Speaker 1>The bark is used in the tanning of leather. Turpentine, pitches,

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<v Speaker 1>and sugar are derived by tapping the trees. The most

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<v Speaker 1>considerable waste is due to forest fires and the ruthless

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<v Speaker 1>cutting of timber on the public lands. Charcoal is frequently

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<v Speaker 1>burned without any attempt to preserve the gases, which would

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<v Speaker 1>be of value for illuminating purposes. One of the first

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<v Speaker 1>effects of removing the forests in a neighborhood has been

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<v Speaker 1>the necessity of bringing in lumber from other localities. This

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<v Speaker 1>increases its price. It is, however, in its final effects

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<v Speaker 1>upon a country that clearing the hills has proved most detrimental.

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<v Speaker 1>It has been found that clearing districts are not so

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<v Speaker 1>warm in winter as before the hills were bared. This

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<v Speaker 1>has caused a failure in crops formerly successful. In northern Illinois,

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<v Speaker 1>the climate was so altered by the removal of woods

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<v Speaker 1>that the peach crops were seriously injured. Winter weed was

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<v Speaker 1>killed in open fields, but was successful were protected by

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<v Speaker 1>the woods. Thus, in winter, the trees break the winds

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<v Speaker 1>and moderate the cold. In summer, they reduce the heat

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<v Speaker 1>and lessen the danger from storms. Since the removal of trees,

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<v Speaker 1>many localities which were formerly free from storms are visited

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<v Speaker 1>by storms of great violence. Forests produce conditions leading to rain.

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<v Speaker 1>The evaporation from the soil and leaves, cools the atmosphere

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<v Speaker 1>and tends to precipitate the moisture. This rain does not

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<v Speaker 1>run off at once, as it often does in the

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<v Speaker 1>open fields, the ground being meallow and loose, it sinks

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<v Speaker 1>and is gradually fed out to springs and streams. Snow

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<v Speaker 1>is falling in the forest melt but slowly, and so

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<v Speaker 1>a supply of water is maintained for the summer. Where

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<v Speaker 1>woods have been replanted, the irregular rainfalls and frequent droughts

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<v Speaker 1>observed since clearing have disappeared, and more favorable conditions prevail. Birds, too,

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<v Speaker 1>are wont to nest in woods. They desert the clearings

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<v Speaker 1>in such numbers that crops are injured by the insects

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<v Speaker 1>they used to destroy. It is for these reasons that

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<v Speaker 1>the government encourages the planting of trees. It has made

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<v Speaker 1>favorable terms to settlers who cultivate trees. Various states are

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<v Speaker 1>doing what they can to remedy the evils brought about

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<v Speaker 1>by the indiscriminate cutting of trees. The strictest laws are

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<v Speaker 1>issued to control the setting of fires in the woods

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<v Speaker 1>and to prevent their spreading. The treeless character of the

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<v Speaker 1>prairie regions is thought to be due to the burning

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<v Speaker 1>of the trees by the Danse Indians. The old timber

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<v Speaker 1>culture laws were not an entire success, for trees were

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<v Speaker 1>planted without care and without regard to their adaptability. This

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<v Speaker 1>is now remedied so far as possible. Investigation has decided

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<v Speaker 1>which trees are suitable in certain localities. There are in

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<v Speaker 1>almost every place some parts which would be more profitable

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<v Speaker 1>in trees than in the usual crop, but they must

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<v Speaker 1>be cared for. They cannot be neglected as they have

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<v Speaker 1>been in times past. Trees are also planted largely as

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<v Speaker 1>wind breaks in prairie regions, and some experiments have been

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<v Speaker 1>made to redeem certain beach tracts from the encroaching sands

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<v Speaker 1>by planting trees which will resist the winds to prevent

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<v Speaker 1>floods and shortage of water during the summer. The government

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<v Speaker 1>has made laws which are designed to stop the cutting

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<v Speaker 1>of trees upon public lands, except under definite regulations. These

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<v Speaker 1>look to the preservation of the young trees and the

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<v Speaker 1>ultimate recovering of the hills with a growth of trees.

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<v Speaker 1>References reports upon Forestry, Department of Agriculture Forests of North

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<v Speaker 1>America see as Sergeant Government report. This gives fine maps

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<v Speaker 1>of the wooded districts in each state, with the character

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<v Speaker 1>of the trees found in each. End of Chapter eleven,

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<v Speaker 1>end of Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes