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196. Wisconsin Agriculture.

-cessity of providing for their restoration where they are already destroyed, have been, to a considerable degree, successful. We may hope to see the time when many of our farmers and land holders will deem it a part of their duty to plant trees. Should this be done to any considerable extent, their successors, at least, will have cause to honor and respect the forethought that preserved and handed down to them, their full share of this great source of national wealth.

The dense forests have a marked effect upon the climate of the country in several ways. They protect our houses and our cattle from the rigors of the north winds of winter, and from the fierceness of the burning sun in summer. They preserve the moisture of the ground, and of the air; and render permanent and uniform the flow of water in springs, brooks, and rivers. By the fall of their leaves, branches, and trunks, they restore to the soil those elements of vegetable life and growth, that would without this natural process, soon become exhausted, leaving the soil barren and unproductive. Their leaves absorb the carbonic acid from the atmosphere and restore to it the oxygen; thus rendering it more pure and better suited for respiration by man and animals. Without this restorative agency, all animal life would long since have ceased to exist.

The uses to which wood and other products of the forest are applied, are very numerous and various; but so well known to everybody that it would be useless to enumerate them here. With us, wood is consumed largely for fuel, for building houses and other structures, for ship building, fencing, furniture; and for the construction and repairs of Railroads and Plank roads. It is used for many implements of husbandry and of the household; for making barrels, wagons, carriages, and for charcoal. Large quantities are annually consumed in the smelting of iron, lead, and copper. The working of wood gives employment for numerous artisans, tradesmen, and laborers. The quantity of wood annually consumed in the United States must be enormous. Few persons can realize its extent, or the amount we owe to the native forests of our country for the capital and wealth our people are now enjoying. Without the fuel, the buildings,