This preceded the third day of creation, when vegetation began, which shows conclusively that the waters were equally as important as the air. It is obvious, then, that this covering of the earth’s surface with vegetation was for a wise purpose, that of conserving the moistures of the earth without which there can be no successful crops raised. It is evident that our climate is changing in this country. Ten years ago a writer of Chicago, now deceased, gave a theory for the cause of our changing climate, which I indorse. “The cutting down of our virgin forests, which has been going on at a fearful rate for the past sixty years, and also the breaking up and putting under cultivation so large an area of prairie land in so short a time, is the direct cause. The equilibrium between the moisture of the atmosphere and the moisture of the earth is maintained by the virgin forests of a country, and when the virgin forests are slaughtered, as they have been in this country by the lumber kings, that equilibrium is lost. Then comes drouth, fires, famines, pestilence and death.”
This theory is borne out in the fact that there always is so much humidity in the atmosphere during a protracted drouth. The histories of the ancient and modern civilizations also bear out this theory. There is no doubt but that the ancient civilizations had immense virgin forests to begin with, and that as soon as these virgin forests were consumed, then the equilibrium between the moisture of the atmosphere and the moisture of the earth were destroyed and one after the other of these great nations have perished by drouth, famines, fires and pestilences. I cannot recall to mind ever having seen a natural spring of water on a treeless prairie. It is in the timber we find them, showing conclusively that the forests of a country make the great reservoir of its water supply.
To come down to modern civilizations, a pertinent comment is that made by Mr. Charles F. Adams on one of the causes that have led to the downfall of Spain. It is a fact that this peninsula once supported a population of about 45,000,000, but now holds a meager 17,000,000. The main reason for this is stated by Mr. Adams. “During the last three years I have spent much time in Europe, visiting among other countries Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England, and whoever wishes to study the effects of deforesting on a country and on its people should by all means visit Spain. Not only has the country been ruined, but the character of the people has been changed by the wholesale destruction of trees, and the neglect of their renewal. The rivers have become mountain torrents and a large portion of the country is a rugged upland desert. The same process is to-day going on in Italy. The results in that country as noticed by me in visits ten years apart is lamentable. The ancient forests are being wholly stripped from the mountains, and while the rivers are converted into torrents, the water is not held in the soil. In Germany, on the other hand, the forestry laws are admirable. The result upon the country, climate and rainfall is apparent to the most careless observer.
“It is certainly timely to urge the United States that it shall not permit itself to copy the Spanish example of decay in this or any other respect.”
The facts stated by Mr. Adams have been corroborated again and again, to the effect that the denudation of the mountain slopes of Spain and the erosion of its soil have reduced it to a condition of semi-aridity and lessening its power to support population, one-third of which are to-day indulging in bread riots. Of all the civilized nations, we most nearly copy the Spanish stupidity in the waste of our forests. We should certainly set about showing ourselves to be wiser than the nation whose decay is now so evident.
Historic Highways of the South
Part I. St. John’s Church, Ashwood, Tennessee.
By JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE