Orchards, number of acres.. Apples, number of bushels.. Pears, number of bushels.... Peaches, number of bushels... Grapes, number of pounds......

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As the cultivation of forest trees is, of late years, becoming a matter of considerable interest, we give a few extracts in this connection from an able article written by M. C. Read, Esq., and which will be found of some importance to those interested in the subject. Mr. Read says: "Observers are not fully agreed as to the extent of the climatic influences resulting from the destruction of the Ohio forests. Whether the amount of the annual rainfall is diminished or not, it is probable that the number of rainy days is diminished, and that the rainfall is not as equally distributed as formerly. It is certain that very many springs and streams that were formerly perennial now fail entirely in protracted droughts. Old mill-sites are abundant on the banks of streams which are now very insignificant, and would furnish no valuable water-power. On farms that were once regarded as well watered, wells are sunk to obtain water for the domestic animals, or mere excavations made to catch and retain the surface water, in stagnant pools, thus securing an uncertain and a very unwholesome supply. Some of the causes which have produced these results are easily recognized. The forests retained the rainfall, checked the surface flow of the water, and the net-work of roots carried it downward, so that the earth became saturated to a great depth. After the forests were removed, the surface flow was uninterrupted, the wash of material into the lakes and swamps was greatly increased, their dimensions rapidly diminished, and partly by these causes and partly by artificial surface drainage, many of these swamps and lakelets have been wholly obliterated. The surface along the whole of the table-land which separates the waters of the lake from the Ohio River was originally diversified by a multitude of lakes, swamps and hollows, not the result of surface erosion, but of the agencies which deposited the drift. These constituted so many reservoirs to retain the surface water, carry it deeply into the earth, and feed the springs on each side of the divide, and thus made the streams perennial. Surface channels of drainage now take the place of the subterranean channels which fed the springs. As the roots of the trees have disappeared in the cleared fields, and

"The increased rapidity of surface evaporation is one important element in the climatic influences resulting from the destruction of the forests. Every farmer understands the marked effect of a slight mulching of the surface in retaining the moisture in the soil, and careful experiments reported by Franklin B. Hough, of Lowville, N. Y., in his report to the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, 'upon Forestry,' shows that the total surface evaporation, from April 1 to September 3, from a square foot of saturated earth, wasIn the open fields...... In woods, without litter.. In woods, with litter.....

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..2,174.60 cubic inches. 847.03 66 333.04 66

"The first would be equal to a rainfall of 15.10 inches, and the last to that of 2.31 inches. The writer of the report reaches the following general conclusions from the experiments and observations collected by him: 1. The forests alone, without litter, diminish the evaporation of water in the soil, as compared with the open fields (in the mean of two years observed), 62 per cent. 2. The litter covering in the forest diminishes the evaporation still further 22 per cent. 3. Forests and litter together reduce evaporation 84 per cent. 4. In litter-covered forests the evaporation is 60 per cent less than in uncovered forest soil (page 246).

It is

"It is evident from all these facts, that in the summer months very little of rain except that which falls upon a wood-covered surface, can reach the sources of the springs, and that they must gradually fail as the forests are destroyed. probable that the full climatic effects of the removal of our forests are not yet seen, and that the evils will steadily increase if their destruction is continued. It is certain that the State is already dependent upon extra-territorial regions for its supply of lumber, and that very many farmers cannot obtain from their own land the timber needed for fences and other farming purposes.

"The map showing the distribution of wood lands, according to the statistics of the last census,

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assigns to the greater part of Ohio from 120 to 240 acres of wood land to the square mile, or from three to six sixteenths of the surface. * The partial removal of the timber has left openings, spontaneously occupied by native grasses, which the farmers, through a false economy, have sought to save by making the wood lands a part of their pastures. The cattle, hogs and sheep, roaming through these detached forests, are effectually preventing the growth of any new trees, and it is just here that the first efforts at forest culture in Ohio should be made an effort to save the forests that remain. All seedlings, as fast as they spring up, are destroyed by domestic animals, the young trees are broken down or injured; the undergrowth of small shrubs is destroyed, which formerly protected the surface, held the fallen leaves in position, and retarded the surface flow of the water; and, unless the practice of making the forests ranges for domestic animals is abandoned, their early destruction is inevitable. If a farm is overstocked, and the pastures begin to fail, it is better husbandry to turn the cattle into the standing corn, than into the forest reserves. The corn-field can be restored in a single season, but when the forest is destroyed, a hundred years are required for its full restoration, and a proper percentage of forests is essential to the best returns from the arable and pasture lands. The lowest amount required to secure the best agricultural results from the rest, is estimated by Marsh at 25 per cent.

"The second source of our future supply of timber should be the rock-covered hills, which are fitted only for the growth of the forests. Many of these, especially in the eastern part of the State, are in sandstone formations, adapted to the growth of the chestnut, where it springs up spontaneously, and would soon occupy the whole surface, if fostered and protected. The renewal of the forests on these hills can be greatly hastened by the planting of young trees in all open places, and by encouraging a dense growth of brambles, or such other shrubs as will spring up spontane ously, to protect the slopes from washing, and

planting, the better way will be to pack the nuts, as soon as gathered, in sand or garden soil, where they will be exposed to the frosts of winter, and, in the spring, planting them in the places where the trees are to grow, or else planting them out after one year's growth in the nursery. On these rock-covered hills, the chestnut finds a congenial soil, makes a rapid growth, and, being renewed from the stump when cut, can be easily maintained in a permanent forest. When thus grown, it is one of the most valuable trees for fenceposts and railroad ties, and, in a long series of years, can be made to yield a crop from these unproductive, rocky hills, of equal value to that obtained from ordinary arable land, while hills thus covered will be sure to furnish perennial springs at their bases, which would disappear if the hills were cleared.

"The systematic planting of new forests requires a careful study of the habits of the differand a wise and provident regard for the wants of ent forest trees, the conditions of forest growth, the distant future, which few are inclined to exhibit. * * * Some of the most obvious conditions of forest growth are a congenial soil and a humid condition, both of the soil and of the air, during the season of most rapid growth. In the native forests, natural selection secures the occupancy of the territory to the species to which the soil and the environment are the most congenial, while continued occupancy of the soil by one species or family often renders it less and less fitted for their use, and better fitted for others that are waiting to take possession; so that a marked tendency to rotation, a crowding-out of the old occuserved in all forests. In mixed forests, these pants and the introduction of new ones, is obchanges are gradual; in forests composed of one species or family, the change is often abrupt and encies should be carefully observed and their complete. In artificial forest culture, these tendindications followed. The species that are tending to crowd out the old occupants will be likely to succeed the best when artificially planted.

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required each year for the ties for the railroads already constructed in the United States and Terri- | tories, and the cost of fencing material for the whole country must be vastly in excess of this.

"The Erie Railroad Company classifies timber for ties as follows: First class-Second growth chestnut, white oak, burr oak, rock oak, black locust, and mulberry. Second class-Butternut, cherry, red cedar, white cedar, yellow cedar, Southern cypress, black elm, rock maple, black oak, pitch pine, and black walnut. Third class- Black birch, first growth; chestnut, Northern cypress, red elm, white hemlock, soft maple, red oak, tamarack, and yellow pine. If the catalpa was added in first class, the list and classification might be considered as substantially correct, and where trees are planted with the main design of growing railroad ties and fencing posts, trees may well be selected substantially in the order above named, according as they are adapted to the locality, and the grounds to be planted.

"An equally early return may be obtained from trees planted for the purpose of producing tough timber for wagon-making, ax-helves, and other wooden handles, and all uses for which small pieces of strong timber are required. For these uses, hickory and white ash are best adapted, and, while generally it will probably be advisable to plant a mixed forest, a plantation exclusively of hickory can hardly fail to yield a profitable return. By selecting the most edible nuts of the shag-bark variety, planting thickly, with rows not more than four feet apart, and with the trees not more than two feet apart in the row, in a very few years the harvest may begin by cutting hoop-poles, which will be removed from the stump, and produce a continuous yield, the larger thinnings making the very best of firewood, and by the time the plantation commences to yield timber for the purposes indicated above, the crop of nuts will be no insignificant part of the returns.

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"But there are other uses for artificially grown timber, in which the profits may be made much larger-the growing of ornamental woods for cabinet work and the inside finish of houses; and for this purpose there may be selected the black walnut, the butternut, the white ash, the chestnut, the soft maple, the catalpa for the southern half of the State, and probably some others. The arboriculturist who will be the first to gather a harvest of well-grown trees for these uses, will find that he has received a return for his labor, in money, to an

amount which could not be equaled by any ordinary farm crops. The demand for such lumber, to cut into veneers, would for years exhaust the supply, and prices would remain high until the market was fully stocked.

"The sugar maple is not enumerated in the list of trees given above, but the maple sugar and syrup of the future will depend upon 'sugar orchards,' artificially planted, or upon the careful protection of the seedlings in the present forest reserves. The old trees are fast dying out, and, in rare instances only, are the young trees so cared for as to render them secure. There can be but little doubt that ten or more acres of these trees, well established on a farm of ordinary size, even of a few years' growth, would add more to the salable value of the farm than the cost of planting and caring for the plantation.

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"The thick planting of trees and encouraging the growth of the underbrush' in the forest reserves, which is now largely destroyed, will have another beneficial result in increasing the number of our small insect-eating song-birds. Within a comparatively few years, their number has been greatly diminished, and largely because of the destruction of the thickets and shrubs, which are their favorite nesting-places. Let these be permitted to grow in the forests, and they will again be vocal with the songs of the birds. They are also one of the natural checks to the undue increase of destructive insects, and we cannot, without great risk, dispense with their aid.

"Very little has yet been done in Ohio toward renewing or increasing our forests. E. E. Barney, of

Dayton, has made some interesting experiments, and collected valuable facts in regard to the catalpa and its cultivation. Messrs. Storrs & Harrison, of Painesville, have made a specialty of the raising of chestnut seedlings, and can furnish them in large quantities, and at very cheap rates; and, generally, there is a growing interest in all matters pertaining to forest culture throughout the State. It is often a matter of boasting that there is no waste land in the State, that it is all susceptible of cultivation. But if one-fourth of the surface was occupied by hills and mountains, so rocky and precipitous as to repel all attempts at their cultivation, and compel their reservation for forests alone, our future would be much more secure. The extensive 'barrens' in many of the Southern States, supporting a meager forest growth, with a soil so sterile that it will not pay for clearing

and fencing, serve important climatic purposes, and tend to secure the perpetual value of the arable lands. Apparently better favored, we will suffer irremediable loss if we are unwilling to devote a fair percentage of our 'good lands' to the growth of forests."

The seasons, like many other things, run in cycles-not always of the same duration-but observation extending over the last forty years has satisfied any close observer, that dry, or moderately dry periods, continue not longer, usually, than seven years. The earth, that is called inanimate, has many of the characteristics of the animated being. It cannot run much more than seven years and maintain its reputation for cleanliness and healthfulness, without having a bath; and, the bath being ordered, the rains descend, until the big, rounded form of old Mother Earth has had a good washing and cleansing from the impurities that accumulate. The year 1828 was a flood year (we are told, it was before our day), so was 1835-36, as also 1844. In the month of June of the latter year, if the traditions be true, there was more water upon the face of the earth, in the Western country, than ever known since the days of Noah's flood. Again, in 1851, much water fell; the next wet spell was some seven or eight years later. The years 1867 and 1868, ending in the spring of 1869, were very wet years in the West and Southwest. The last wet spell began in July, 1876. It being the centennial year, there was a high old time, drowning out all the corn on the lowlands, and keeping up the spree for two years.

Having said something of the periodic theory, it has been further observed that when the dry periods occur in the Eastern Continent, we have our wet seasons in the Western Continent, and vice versa. During the past two or three years, when we were so flooded with water that we would have been glad to have given some of it away, there have been fearful famines in portions of Asia and other sections of the world, produced by the want of the rain that fell where it was not wanted. The change has set in which will most probably reverse this order. Thus, it may be observed that Mother Earth, in taking her bath, washes but one side at a time, and it may be further observed that the law of compensation is ever asserting itself in the adjustment of nature's divine order, by action and re-action, which is the safety-valve of the universe.

Planets move in cycles, also, making revolutions in regular periods of time, as do the seasons too.

The tides are periodic, and many of the malarial diseases are periodic, as the doctors (wiseacres that they are) will tell you. There are numerous and gorgeously grand geysers in the Territory of Wyoming, spouting forth immense volumes of water-hot, cold and tepid-to the height of the tallest treetops, and all of them are perfectly periodic-some long and some short-but all prompt and regular in their own time, like the breathing of animals.

The earth has many of the characteristics of an animal. The rise and fall of the tide once every twelve hours is but the respiration of the huge animal upon which we live; the great rivers of water that have their internal passway, as well as those that flow upon the surface, are only the arteries and the veins that supply the life blood to the animal; the great mountain range that extends the whole length of the globe from north to south is only the backbone of the animal; the mountains that swell up from the body of the earth are but moles and warts upon that body; the great fountain of oil that lies in the bowels of the earth is what the plain-spoken butcher would call "gut-fat; " the thunders that roll across the vaulted heavens are but the electric sparks that snap and fly from the Thomas cat's back; the shrubs and trees that grow upon the globe are but the hairs and bristles that cover and clothe the body of the great animal; the mutterings and rumblings of the earthquake are only the eructations and disturbances in poor earth's bowels; and the opening of the huge crater, vomiting forth fire, ashes, stones, and red-hot lava, what is that but the discharge of an overloaded and disordered stomach, that may have taken in too much unwholesome food, or, perhaps, too muchstrong drink? Now, who shall say that the earth is not as much an animal as it is a vegetable or mineral substance? and who can maintain that the myriads of animals that creep, crawl, leap and fly over the earth's surface, and the millions of men standing erect upon that same ground, are anything more than parasites that feed and fatten upon the body and blood of this same good old Mother Earth?

The results of meteorological observations, found on the following page, may be of some interest to the reader. They were made at Urbana, latitude 40° 6' north, longitude 84° 43' west, for the year 1878, by Milo G. Williams, in accordance with the methods adopted by the Smithsonian Institution, the hours of observation being 7 A. M., 2 P. M., and 9 P. M.