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FORESIRY AND FARMWa IN ONTARIO.

T. B. "\^SCITB3.

i^oxoE 10 casim.

HUNTER, ROSE ^ CO.. WEtLINaTON STREET WEST

1886.

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ARBORICULTURE

AVD

AGRICULTURE ;

OE,

Jfcrtstrg anil Jfarming in ©ntaric.

T. B. ^VHITE.

HUNTER, ROSE & CO., WELLINGTON STREET WEST,

1886.

AEBOEICULTURE AND AGKICULTURE.'

The subject of this paper is " Arboriculture and Agriculture, or
Forestry and Farming in Ontario," and the quotations given
are mostly from books published since 1880, on these questions,
by the Ontario Government, namely : The Agricultural Commis-
sioners' Evidences and Report ; Agricultural and Arts Association,
and Agricultural College Reports ; Forestry Reports by R. W.
Phipps, Toronto ; and Report of Delegation to American Forestry
Congress. And in preparing this paper I have thought it best to
divide it into four heads: 1st, Forestry and Rainfall; 2nd, For-
estry and Drainage ; 3rd, Forestry and Crops ; 4th, Forestry for
Protection and Ornament ; winding up with some general state-
ments, keeping the " text," which underlies the whole subject,
until the last.

1st. Forestry and Rainfatx.

I am of the opinion that forests, more or less, in this part of
Ontario — between the lakes, I mean — have not a noticeable effect
on the rainfall,and I have been acquainted with some portions of it
from a dense forest to ninety per cent, cleared, extending over
forty years. Of over fifty answers to this question in Forestry Re-
port for 1884, two or three say the rainfall is less since the forests
have been cleared. The others all tell about the same thing as
follows : " Though it may not be less on the whole, it does not seem
to come as gentle and as often." But the way they harp on the
known fact that creeks and rivers are more irregular, and small
streams dry up where they used to run the summer through, it
would seem that this had more to do with the conclusions come
to than the actual facts of the case. Mr. Henry Doupe of Kirton,
speaks clear on this point : " I must say there has been a drying
up of the craeks since the forests have been cleared away — that
is, the water goes away earlier in the spring, and is less in the
creeks in the summer than formerly. When rain falls it gets away
more quickly, which may be accounted for by open or under
drains leading to creeks or small streams, and also from the effects
of wind and sun on cleared land. As to the quantity of rain, I
would say that I think it very little less than formerly. During
the past summer, more rain fell here than in any season for the
last thirty or forty years. When rain falls with thunder, I think,

* This paper, revised, was prepared for and read at a meeting of the Centre Grey
Farmers' iDstitute, held at Thombury, February 24, 1836.
Jime 18, 1886. T. B. Whitb, Clarksburg.

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for the time it lasts, that it falls more; heavily than formerly.
The land is mostly cleared."

Mr. Phipps says : " Of all the local causes which tend to pro-
duce rain, forests are by far the most beneficial to the cultivator,
for the great but invisible columns of cold and moist air which
arise from them are sent upwards when rain is most beneficial to

the farmer, etc." ^ , . , ,

Mr. P. E. Bucke says : " The evaporation from their leaves by
cooling the atmosphere, has the effect of increasing the frequency

of showers " , , , . - n .

A. Eby, M. P., says : " It is not proved that the total rainfall of
a country is lessened by denuding it of its forest? ; but in a well-
wooded country there is a more general distribution of moisture
throughout the year."

Mr. Mowat, better known as Moses Gates, says ; " That from
1841 till 1871, the rainfall in the second or third quarters of the
year decreased ; but during the last six or seven years, he thinks,
the rainfall has been increasing. The causes of this increase are
probably not due to anything peculiar to this province, but have
their origin outside of the earth." Mr. Mowat gives himself plenty

of room. , 1 .

Now, the theory adduced to prove that trees have such a grea
influence in producing the rainfall is something like this, and
which, if there is much truth in it, the farmer should study; 1st.
Trees are composed of organic and inorganic substances ; and to
build up these elements into a tree water is the great promoter of
the process ; but by the time its mission is fulfilled it is at the top
of the tree, and passes, by the process of evaporation, through the
leaves, cooling the atmosphere. 2nd. The cooler the atmosphere the
less moisture it will hold without precipitation. To illustrate :
Supposing a current of air, or cloud, if you like, is passing along,
having a temperature of seventy degrees, holding eight grains of
moisture per cubic foot, but in passing over a cleared, parched
country, the refraction from below increases that temperature, so
that in place of raining it takes in more moisture, leaving the
farmers' crops drier and drier ; but, when it comes over a forest,
the cooling process going on there reduces its temperature, say
to fifty degrees, and the result is it rains. Applying this theory
to the City of Toronto, and considering the material the buildings
and streets are made of, and the sewers to swallow down the
moisture as fast as it comes, thereby leaving but little for evapo-
ration, should not the refraction from such a place, if it made any
difference, have a tendency to give less rain than the rest of
Ontario ? But Mr. Monk says : " The average in Toronto has
been for eight years or more, eight inches more than the average
of the rest of the province. And the number of days on which
rain fell was 110 to 91 to the rest of the province. From the
same authority we learn the amount of rainfall in Ontario for

twentv-six yeare, from 1846 to 1871 inclusive. And, placing this
rainfall alongside the amount of woods cut down during the same
twenty-six years, we have the lowest, 26.805 inches in 1848, and
the highest, 46.188 inches in 1870. And, putting the first four
years given beside the last four years, it shows four inches more
rain in favor of the latter.

Professor Brown says : '• The well-watered north shores of
Lakes Erie and Ontario, as far as Toronto, is clearly large lake
influence." But he " cannot see how all north of Lake Ontario
and the St. Lawrence River there is only a moderate rainfall,
considering the size of the lake and the large proportion of heavily
timbered country adjoining.

And why the one should be so clear,
And the other be so obsoire,

Is what I cannot see ;
But did ive climb where Oates's did.
It might be better understood,

And solve the mystery.

Mr. McQuade, in his Essay on Forestiy, makes a calculation
from an experiment made niaety-seven years ago, and shows that
an acre of wood land will yield 3,875 gallons of water in twelve
hours ; and gives it as his opinion, that if this process of calcula-
tion was carried out correctly in Ontario, it would be an easy
matter to determine what amount of leaf-surface would be re-
quired to insure a full crop under ordinary circumstances.

Professor Brown, on this question, says: " This is just one of
the things that we do not know, and that we are not likely ever
to know, as a point for general practical guidance."

And there are several things, I think, which point very conclu-
sively to the correctness of the professor's statement, though, of
all that I have heard or read on forestry, Mr. McQuade, I think,
in his '* Essay on Forestry," carries off the palm. Hear him :

" In those days of universal tillage, the grass will bum off the
earth, the cattle perish for want of water, and why 1 Because we
have not the everlasting snow-capped mountains hanging over us
to feed our creeks and springs ; because we have destroyed our
ferest-trees which Nature's Great Architect planted for that pur-
pose. Do our people know all this ? will they believe it when
told ? Oh that some mighty genius, with the tongue of Demos-
thenes, eloquence of Cicero, and pen of Homer, would proclaim it
in every hamlet throughout the length and Jareadth of our fine
young province, before it is too late. Twenty years ago the lover
of sport could catch trout, bass, chub and suckers, at any time in
summer, from Bayfield to Dublin, or shoot the grey or wood
chuck. To-day there is not sufficient water in its whole length
to keep a decent family in drink."

This seems rather small fry to make such a lamentation about.

No wonder at the poor Indian feeling 80 cast down and despond-
ent over the loss of his buffalo.

2nd. Forestry and Drainage.

Mr. Phipps, after treating us to a philosophical lesson on the
care of a flower-pot, says : " Let us compare this with the fields.
While the forests remain in due amount, diminitive underground
water-courses run every where beneath them. If you have ever
dug a railroad cutting through a field, you will find undei the
wood many a spring. Under the field, unless you dig deeply,
you will find but very few. The country, partially cleared, may
be, I should say, likened to the occasienally watered and well-
tended flower-pot. The fertilizing showers of spring and sum-
mer will, from the proximity of the trees, be frequent and nour-
ishing. The overplus will at once be carried away by the under-
ground channels, still for that purpose existing sufficiently near
the surface ; vegetation will flourish, and the fields yield a gener-
ous return. As with the -veil-tended flower-pot, the regular
succession of moisture and heat has been bestowed. But when a
country is almost deforested, the original underground channels
must of necessity largely close," etc., etc.

However nice the forest plan of under-draining may look
spread out on paper, it does not appear to have been very suc-
cessful when the trees had possession of the land.

Mr. Elliott, of Colchester Township, Essex County, says: "We
have about 8,000 acres of marshy land that has been reclaimed in
our township by open drains. It was absolutely worthless before
it was drained, except that in the middle of summer the cattle
«ould run upon it for a short time. We have two drains, twenty
feet wide, and three and a half feet deep on the average. Some
liave grown wheat on these reclaimed lands, which have evidently
been timbered lands some time in the past, as the old stumps and
timber can be found in the bottom."

The late Professor Buckland says : " I remember, in clearing up
the old University Park in Toronto, where the soil in many places
was very wet, we had a number of drains made, and the ground
afterwards sown with grass seed ; and wherever these drains were
put, through dry as well as wet ground, the earth having been
moved and the moisture getting in when the grass-seed was sown,
little belts of green might afterwards be seen all through the
driest summers f^r many years, indicating that we need not fear
over-draining, so far as bringing the land into a good state, for
the sustentation of crops, is concerned."

Mr. McLain, of Gosfield Township, says : "Some portions of our
township have been reclaimed by drains. We have had a lot of
bush land reclaimed. The wet land was generally kept in bush
before it was drained — the driest land being selected for farming."

Mr. Cheekly, North Augusta, says : " With regard to clearing
up the country, affecting the rainfall and drying up the streams,
it is doing both. I remember distinctly, where mowers and

reapers are now used, seeing water stand all summer, when the
land was in a state of nature ; and the stream that runs through
the village where I live, shows signs of the supply being cut off,
which it received in former years from the great swamps along
its course that are now cleared up and under crop."

This seems a rather strange statement to make to show that the
country is being ruined by being cleared up, and harvesting
where water used to stand the summer through. t

Mr. Woods, farm foreman at the College Farm, Guelph, says :
"Field 12 will never be in a state of cultivation until well
drained, as it is very low. There is an absolute necessity for
having this field well drained. Nos. 17 aud 18 also require drain-
ing. I hope and trust the government will place a sufficient sum
to the credit of the drainage fund to enable us to drain these three
gelds."

But then Mr. Wood, in the same report, speakmg of the new-
windmill, says : " The arrangement which regulates the supply is
an ingenious piece of mechanism. When an animal commences
drinking at one of the troughs, the machinery is again in opera-
tion, and continues so until there is no more water required.
Thus at all times there is a plentiful supply of water on this part
of the farm."

Mr. Wood's cry is more drainage and more windmills. Mr.
Cheekly 's cry is more trees and more wet land. This is farming
and forestry.

Mr. Smellie, of Vaughan, gives his experience on both sides of
the question; and as his is a pretty old farm— I was at a plough-
ing match on it forty years past — it would be well for most of us
to take a note of it. He says : " The country is getting more
cleared of timber, and that is another thing to account for the
diminution in the crops. The more bush and shelter, the greatei-
the crops of wheat, etc." Then, on under-draining, he says : " Un-
der-draining has favorably affected the produce of my wheat.
The cause of wheat being winter-killed is the fact of its having a
cold, damp bottom."

If this is so, remove the cause, and the shelter is not needed.
Putting a dozen coats on does not cure the ague.

Mr. T. H. Monk, after stating what is pretty well understood
to be the cause of rust, says : " If this be so, it shows the necessity
for drainage."

Mr. Gibson, of Markham, says : " When, in 1847, 1 first went
upon my farm, it was a rather peculiar one. It was wet but not
spongy, but quit« unsuitable for raising fall wheat. But, after I
had drained my farm, I had almost always good crops of fall
wheat durinsr the time the midge was at the worst."

Mr. Drury says : " Excessive moisture is not so bad for drained
as undrained land, and that drv weather does not affect so bad."

Mr. Thomson, of Brooklin, who has spent some $3,000 on under-
draining, says : "Before I drained, it depended entirely on the
season whether I had any crop at all or not, and now a great crop
is a matter of certainty."

The Directors of the Agricultural Society of West York say :
" If we drain, the action of the air and frost will deepen the soil,
and fall wheat and clover will not be so apt to kill out."

Thus we might go on ad infinitum, and show that a great deal^
of the failing of our crops, which we attrl ite to the want oi
shelter, is more for the want of drainage, and not such drainage
as an increase of forests would give us either.

3rd. Forestry and Crops.

We shall run this head dn the line of showing that our crops
are not as much worse now as formerly, as we are apt to think
they are; and when they are worse, it is often more attributable
to bad farming than for the want of forests to shelter them.

Mr. Riddell. of Cobourg, gives a tabulated statement showing
the nverage of his grain crops for thirty-nine years, from 18 tl.
and the good and poor vields are so intermixed from beginning
to end, so that if we attribute the poor crops of some years to the
want of shelter, it is evident that this shelter did not cause good
crops other years. In 1841, spring wheat 15 bushels; 1851. ^7
bushels; 1861. 18J bus i els. In 1842, fall wheat 12 bushels;
1852, 29 bushels; 1867, 24 bushels; 1877,25 bushels; and in
1878, 12 bushels per acre.

Professor Brown says: "I have adopted a rotation of crops,
which I think is applicable to the whole province ; and, although
I have not been very successful in raising fall wheat, by reason ot
our high elevation and great exposure to the atmosphere, in
spring wheat, which does not require the same amount ot pro-
tection, my success has been very marked."

AlthoP<rh he gives the average of fall wheat for five years, from
1876 to 1880 inclusive, 35 bushels per acre ; spring wheat, 17
bushels. Now, is not 35 bushels, for five years in succession, more
the exception than the rule in a system of rotation of crops where
the root crop gets the first pull at the manure ? I think it is In
1881, 1 see by the report, it is 38 per acre ; in 1884 IS-and the
reason given, it was very rusty-while spring wheat, for the same
year, hts gone up to 30 bushels per acre. This seems almost a
contradiction to the requirement of protection so much for fall

^ And here it may not be amiss to note some of the drawbacks
the farmer has to contend with, viz.: Too wet or to dry seasons,
rust, midge, winter-killing of fall wheat, summer frosts, and some-
times too high temperature .when the gram is forming; Hessian-

fly, -wire-worm, joint-worm and blight. And experience and
evidence tend to show that the best general protection against
the first seven of these is a well cleared, open country, well
draintid and well farmed. For the next three. I would spy, starve
them out if there is no better way to get rid of them. As for
blight, a change of seed is worth trying.

Professor Brown says, the principle cause of success generally
is good farming, and is of the opinion that the yield of wheat is
ste** 'ily on the increase, caused by more root growing and cattle
raising. And that well drained land holds moisture longer than
anj'^ other land, only it holds it more evenly, saves time by being
able to get onto it earlier in the spring, hastens the harvest, in-
creases the nutritive value of grains, renders water jnore pure,
and improves the general health of a district.

With respect to shelter for fall wheat, the professor saj'-s he ha'i
not had much experience ; but believes that in the nortnr.rn por-
tion of the province fall wheat is more successful than in the
southern portions, simply because of greater protection afforded
by a greater bush area.

Mr. Douglas, St. Vincent Township, says : " The reason that fall
wheat was not grown so extensively was that it was very apt to
get winter-killed, until these last few winters, when it has stood
very well. It stands the winter now (1880) better than it did
ten years ago," He attributes this to there being more clearing ;
the snow is not so heavy, which used to kill it, and, as tL f land
gets older, it is not so subject to wet.

Mr. Hobson, of Mosborough, says : " When the couutry was
wooded, we used to have pretty good crops of fall wheat, but in
the northern part of Wellington, when the country was woodod,
they could not grow fall wheat, and since the woods have beeii
cleared they have been very successful in growing fall wheat."

So here are two opposite results. I t,hink the land in the nor jh
and the south are pretty much the same." Mr. Drury is strong
on protection for fall wheat.

Mr. Dickson, of County of Huron, says : " I cannot give the
reason why fall wheat is more productive and a surer crop than
it was a few years ago."

Mr. Stephen White, of County of Kent, says : " They have had
no failure of the fall wheat crop for several years, and it never
was better in the county than it has been for the last three
jears ; and thinks the average would be greater if the cultivation
was better ; and knows of cases where proper methods of cultiva-
tion have brought an average yield of 40 to 45 bushels per acre.

Mr. Her, County of Essex, says : " The growth of fall wheat is
increasing in our county, and it is producing larger crops."

Mr. T. L. Pardo says : " I follow a system of mixed farming.
I had the present year 46 acres in wheat, and it yielded 35 J
bushels per acre."

Mr. Gibson, of Markhain, gives a long evidence on his system
of farming, without once using the words woods, trees or forests.
He seems well satisfied with both system and results. He says he
found the farm in a bid state with stumps and frog ponds.
Query. Did the trees have the ponds for the sake of the music ?
However that may be, Mr, Gibson has come to farm and the stumps
must go, and the ponds be drained; the frogs apparently not„
taken into account at all. When, after 13 years of labour, in
1860 he has the land ready to commence a seven years' rota oi
croping, or eight years, including the summer fallow whii;h
he ploughs five times, harrows five and grubs three, puts on 105
loads of manure, some salt," and sows with fall wheat. Yield of
wheat, 40 bushels per acre of extra quality. Then follows bar-
ley, three yeai s grass, peas, and last, oats. This is a ten acre field.
Total profit for the seven crops, $874.50, after allowing for rent,
manure and labour, $1,170.50 ; total proceeds for the seven crops.
$2,045.00. A thorough summer fallow, Mr. Gibson says, is the
basis of this profit, and that " this rotation keeps the land per-
fectly clean and free from rubbish, while a great many farms are
overrun with thistles, and there is an act upon the statute book
to keep them from spreading ; but this is a better means of get-
ting rid of them than any statute."

Mr. Pbipps says : " When the woods are gone the land will not
yield ho rich noi' so easily produce a return. To farm will be a
labour moro and more slavish, for the farmer will be working
against nature. He will have interrupted the course of the
means by which she aids him in his toil, moisture being retained
in the forest's bed in millions of tons for the benefit of both field
and forest in a drier time."

In the north of Illinois, west of Rock River, is a piece of coun-
try known by some as the garden of the world. When settled
about fifty years ago it was a treeless prairie, but had a very
rich and natural drained soil ; so much so, that cellars have no
need for drains, and running streams are few and far between.
If these underground channels were caused by forests, they are
remaining open a long, long time. For the first thirty years they
used to grow wheat, when it commenced to not do so well, and
kept getting worse, until, when I was there in 1881, they had for
some time quit it altogether. I felt a little surprised when along
with a farmer, and he stopped at a store to get some flour to take
home. He had 120 acres as beautiful land as I ever saw, and
had produced no want of wind-brakes by planting osage, orange
and willow hedges. Now, here we have the very opposite to
Ontario from beginning to end, with the same results, if not
worse, in respect to the failing of crops Here the wire agent
can come around and say : " Those wind-brakes of yours will
never do ; you used to grow good wheat before you had ; get rid
of them : build wire fences, and let the air have its free course ;

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TwrryrAri-nrf arfaymaV riqf.nTii

In Ontario the tree agent can come around and say, especially
this spring : " Your fall wheat I see is about gone ; this clearing
too much of the forest is going to ruin the country ; there is
nothing for it but to plant outtrees very extensively, and pro-
duce plenty of shelter ; you are working against nature."

Mr. Phipps says : " Proprietors should remember that no one
can possess a title to destroy the usefulness of the soil, lest the
land cry out against him, and the furrows thereof likewise com-
plain. The vast concourse of humanity continually emerges from
the unknown past ; it travels toilsomely by ; it passes into the
clouds of the future ; be sure that there we shall meet with stern
questioiiers ; nor will those pass unchallenged who have to serve
uieir temporary greed, rendered painful, sterile and barren, the
path of generations yet to come. Baa ! why, the man who clears
up a bush-farm, lives of it and raises a family, cannot, no matter
how hard a case he may be, but leave it much better for the next
generation than he found it."

Mr. Wiser, M.P., says : " That when he purchased his farm, it
was so impoverished that it did not produc ; anything in com-
parison to its present yield ; but by the manure which has been
put on the farm, 28 acres would produce more than the original
farm which was 333 acres."

Mr. McQuade says, in his Essay on Restoring Poor Land :
" That as long as it will grow a decent thistle or burdock, it can
be made all right by proper management, and pay wages."

Mr. Thomas Leslie, grandson of Mr. and Mrs. George Leslie, of
Township of Chinguacousy, says in an address to tl.em at the
celebration of their diamond wedding : " In hewing out of this
home, from which you have never been absent for sixty years,
day or night, save at the call of duty to your children or your
friends, we know you must have endured difficulties and toils
of the se-'^erest, of which we can only try to form an opinion, but
youi perseverance has been crowned with success. A similar
changing of the forest to fruitful fields, by neighbours around,
must have been both pleasing and encouraging to you."

4th. Forestry for Protection and Ornament.

I do like trees, though I cannot say that they used me too
well when they had the upper hand. The first morning I went
to chop on my lot, we had only potatoes for breakfast ; the
black smutty flour we should have had to make a cake of, was
on a jumper, wrecked against a tree in another part of the town-
ship ; and it is no fun to have to attack big trees with your am-
munition in possession of other trees far away. However, we
had some home lor dinner, and I picked up again.

Mr. Dempsy says : " Who can compute the increase in value
of every farm in the province, when our country roads shall have

become avenues of stately trees, and our rocky fields and broken
hillsides are covered with profitable timber."

In England the hedges have to be kept down to about four
feet along roads, to let the wind and sun in on them. Avenues
of trees are very well in their places, such as parks, short stretches
about residences, etc. ; but rarity as well as distance tends to
enchantment. If we had perpetual spring or summer, we would
not have near the enjoyment we have with our changeable
climate :

" Stately and fair is the vessel

That comes not near oar beach,
Stately and grand is the mountain
Whose height we never may reach."

When riding along a road with a farmer in Illinois which was
shaded by a great willow hedge, he remarked that it spoilt the
road by keeping it wet, and he thought it would be better cut
down, and was of the opinion that if wire had been in use when
it was planted, there would not have been near so much of it
done as there was. We also passed a willow grove which his
father had planted, but had changed hands and was being cut
down. Jean Inglelowe sings :

''The roses that in yonder hedge appear

Out-do our garden buds that bloom within ;
But since the hand may pluck them everywhere,
Unmarked they bud, bloom, drop and drift away."

And the following incident which occurred before a bench of
magistrates on February 18th, 1886, at her native town, Boston,
England, seems a fit accompaniment to the song : " Thomas Mor-
ley, farmer, Bicker, was charged with being the owner of land on
which a certain hedge is growing, adjoining to a carriage-way,
and neglecting to cut a plash in said hedge, so that sun and wind
are excluded from the said carriage-way. The defendant said
that he had commenced to cut the hedge ; an order was made for
the cutting to be completed, defendant to pay costs."

The late Prof. Buckland and a number of others put consider-
able stress on the advantage of leaving woods, or it too late for
that, planting wind-brakes on the north and west sides of farms,
implying that they do not want them on the east and south sides
But is this not reversing the golden rule with our neighbours,
and giving them what we do not want ourselves.

Mr. MrFarlane, Dover, Kent, says he is farming 400 acres of
land whioii he has cleared, and has kept standing the timber on
the north and west sides of his farm, and finds it beneficial, so
intends to continue to preserve the young timber in belts to
shelter his fall wheat in winter and early spring, but his neigh-
bours have not generally followed this plan. Query: Do his

neighbours have a different opinion of his shelter on account of
being the other side of it ? However, as Mr. McFarlane says he
has not been able to successfully drain his land, we cannot blame
him for doing the next best thing to save his wheat.

Mr. Leslie gives a statement showing what will make a good
sheltered belt on the north and west sides of a ten acre field.
But, to carry this out, we would have all our ten acre fields belt-
ed all round, and which would, I think, about half ruin the
country for growing grain. If we had sufficient to go round one
field, or two, and could handle them as handy as we do our
blankets — have them just where we wanted them, and when we
did not want them, roll them up, it would make all the difference.

Mr. Nicol, whose essay on Forestry was awarded first prize,
says : " On all mountain ranges, on abrupt hill-sides, along the
borders of streams, lakes and water-ways, in swamps, in groups,
and belt surrounding farms, in every village, around every rural
cottage, school-house, and church, on the sides of highways and
and rail-roads, in cemeteries, public parks, and squares, the growth
of forest trees should be promoted by protection, and by planting
where they do not spontaneously grow." This statement would
be amended, I think, by striking out the words, " lakes, swamps,
and highways," and in place of farms, say orchards, buildings, and
pastures. If the swamps in the townships of Colchester, Gos-
field and Mersea, in the county of Essex, had been planted with
trees in place of being drained, what would they be now in com-
parison to what they are.

Mr. Elliott, of Colchester, who mentioned about the drowned
trees, says : " Our county is very healthy at the present time, and
we scarcely ever hear of any ague since the land has been cleared
up and drained." And of the township of Mersea, he says : " It
has spent $150,000 in drainage, and to-day it is the best wheat
growing township in the county."

" Mr. McCain, speaking of the big marsh in Gosfield, says that
draining has increased it in value from 50 cents to 50 dollars per
acre, and is now excellent land for corn, clover, and fall wheat."

Mi. Gordon Mowat says : " I attribute the extraordinary pre-
valence of summer frosts in the neighborhood of Newmarket
entirely to the swamps, which chill the atmosphere for miles
around. The clearing of forests does not prevent frosts so much
as the draining of swamps and marshy lands. Drainage is the
real secret of improving the temperature of a district."

The heavy frost we had June 6th, 1881, was felt the worst by
both fruit and crops where they were most sheltered from the
wind. As for shelter from the lakes, the farms here most expos-
ed to the winds off Georgian Bay, either by being near the beach
or on mountain tops, jutting out almost over the bay, are the
most successful in raising wheat, especially spring wheat. The

'^°^ not worth

'5/

-±ixxr

«*

threshiDg, was grown in a ten-acre square, surrounded by a dense
wood, in 1848 ; and though I do not think the woods were the
cause of the failure, I am sure the woods did not save it. And
planting trees along railways, it seems, can be overdone. In
northern Italy we are told the traveller is discomforted from the
abundance of trees planted. So much so that the eyes grow
weary, and close upon the scenery they cannot enjoy. This
would seem worse than underground railways, for there the tra-
veller expects to see nothing and is not disappointed. And now,
with respect to a few general statements. One is, that this For-
estry and Farming question is not too well understood, and that
too many who think they know, and write about it, simply drifl
away into one-sided theories and imaginations, and the only con-
clusions which they arrive at are that the trees are our main
producers of the rainfall, and that swamps are necessary reser-
voirs to hold and let go this rainfall gradually, as required, to
keep the streams and rivers uniform the summer through, while
the farmer's interest is to hurry away this rainfall as fast as he
can. For this object we turn-pike our roads, make culverts,
ditches and drains, run water furrows, in fact do anything rather
than have the water standing on the land. Then, when the win-
ter and spring moisture is pretty well out of .the land, it will take
in an ordinary summer shower, and utilize it to the benefit of the
growing crops, without raising the brooks sufficient to supply the
frogs. And this is the reason why so many are inclined to think
that as the forests disappear the rainfall is less. It is interesting
to read the correspondence on this question in Forestry Report
for 1884, on pages 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23, then on page 24, Mr.
Phipps says, apparently with all seriousnesss, "The reader will
observe that a great number of experienced men give it as their
opinion, that the over-clearing of the forests in Ontario is drying
up the surface of the land. The numerous underground channels
fed by the forests, which formerly flowed near that surface, giv-
ing life to the earth, and enabling, in dry seasons, the roots to
obtain that moisture below which the parching skies deny above,
have receded to a much greater depth." This philosophy seems
at variance rvith the principle of under-draining. Another
strange tliUkg in connection with this forest rainiall is, that if
Prof. Williams, in 1789, was so far advanced in this science as to
seal in a bottle two leaves and a bud of a maple, attached to the
tree, and find the expired water to be sixteen grains in 6 hours,
that none of our arboriculturists have not gone a step further
since then, and sealed a blade of grass or corn, a turnip leaf or
a pea vine, or something else in a bottle to ascertain what amount
of water they expire in a given time, and allow this as a set-ofi"
against what they say we lose by clearing the forests. When
reading McQuade's Essay on forestry, and come to the words,
" The tree, like every other vegetable, is made up of two kinds

of substances, organic and inorganic, etc." I did thint fli«f
he was going to give a credit and debtor account, but no ft is al
los account; suckers and everything gone. Suppos ng we were
a little, diminutive race of people, and could live in a tuTn[n
fied. running about under the tops, having our houses in the

&fT^^ '"' ^".^ ^""^ ^"^^^^^^^ greatly^rotectTfrom the
heat of the sun or the stormy blast, aSd. on the dewey morns re-
main in our httle houses while the leaves dropped moSture on
the land, and be singing, "Here is the home of ret^?ement the
seat of contemplation, the birth-place of thought. He who ha^

the miXw ^ "• ''^^'^?'' .T^J^^^ ^^^«^«' f^r the murmuring^

ful e"fe ^' nf/ R h'^ 't I't'' '^ ^"^^^^^^^ ^ theyo?.th.
lui ear, etc. Dr. F B. Hough attributes the drying ud of thp

streams to the clearing of the forests ; then goes on ?f prove it bv
showing what a deciduous tree does in producing moFsture a^d
about forests dribbling it out from springs nnTl „™^;i!l ' i?^?
give rise to nils and sfreams. Now, tdVo' wX'pUolat
mg hrough the land from swamps ind such^pLr seeKo be"
what makes so much under-draininff reauired Lforl l!rS u
farmed to any comfort or profit, if iX cold a p^^^^^^^^^^
plymg moisture, being quite the reverse to wLtTknolni
Tofw:rind"'Thi' practical farmer desfgnls^rraud
eiduUlr::^^^^^^^ a tiy^inl^^^^^^^^^ '^' ^-

amongst grain crops, and if the doctorXd gTverStme M^^^

Farm crops are produced by 0,e same process as for^t. «-.
M.d consequently must have a similar etfecHn^h? moS„V^f

«io*nTuf ?i:; '^\ '• tf ?'<* °' Smin will prTdu^^, a X "le
a fZ«rT '*'' ■\''"S''' '" <"" ^«»*°°. ■"K-'I' seems more tZ,
a forest does, and the moisture and cooling process be in m-n^^-
tion to the work done, what is the result! "^W^ll I reSlvdK
know, but I do think we never had more rain than we had ?iif
T^tr^r"' *°f, '""■ y*'- * spri-g on the rL rf our S

Tu^fd^ii'nViVa rfir;Ltfrw£Tt^"r°T^^

J^S^'^^^^^'^^^ an

with one voice by explorers. Investigation has widened the
area of good land so remarkably that the public imlSnatL is

Tat thTclni"''' -^-^-^-- -pecting^he c^un'frmZi^
mat tile countless rich acres will support."

Our latest school geography teaches that "It is remarkable

These statements seem to argue a preference for grass to for-
ests for amehoratmg the climate and the making ZZd land
Holland IS a low, flat country, entirely destitutf of SL rocks

far! fnH',-r. "r u' 'T^^ ^'' roadsryet. it is termed a daT^
farm, and its horticulture has attained to great perfection and su7
tains a population of 311 to each squafe mile, Se ?ro^^^^^
country do we hear ess about poverty and want. *"

Scotland with all its hills and dales and rocks and forests onlv
sustains a population of 122 to each square mile And Twond
seem that from the accounts lately, too many are little bettr off
now than was Mr. Ross when Hugh Miller paid his son a visU
and Mrs. Ross busied herself to get up as nice a dinner as she
ffedX%Sro,.r ^^"™^^^ Potatoes^:nS%:J:

scorched by the summer wind and the summer sun "On the

?ost''onW '^ ""^v'.' '"i^ u'^^* °°^ ^'"''^ f«""d that a tilled so^l
ost only one-third of the water that untiUed did and that a
tilled soil was drier at the top than an untilled soil ' ^^^^ ^

of nW f.^°°^^"dge' of Amherst, in his trials, found that a box
of clay stirred everyday to the depth of four iAches lost in Lvpn

te'aS:ir ^' ''' '^^^^^^' ^' ^ untilledToMh^r:^^^^^^^^

los?l2^i?'ar7Hl^/'^*"^^^ "Stilled soil

lost 1,243, and tilled soil only 1,060. I have seen it latelv staf aH

in the pape^ that the rain belt is following the ploudi in Ool
orado towards the Rockv Mountain^i Ti„f 1« Plough in Col-
Mr W r Pv^™r„ ij J -^T^ , • ^"* *o ^0"i6 nearer home.

tLZI- i^u' ^^^^ ^^^^' ^^y^ ' " I ^^ow land in London
Township which wm considered sterile and worn-out which bv
drainage and thorough culture, brought forth Zdcrop^" And

frZHw ° ^'\^"'^^ J"«*^^« *« ^ «"^"^er fallow, wm^Lvelio
ticed that somehow or other it does not dry out^ ke untn^^

st'infoThetnd""^^^ '' ''' -" "^^^'^ liti^^h^wLllI

«v5L'^°5^^*'^P^^"' ^* Woodville, says, after following a mixed
system of farming: "The result is that my farmTnow worth
I believe, a fourth more than eight vears Jo . f^f ^fo oZ 'k'
same amount of labour will produce a fourth "more tro^'^d

nearly all is due to the improved quality of manure" "If" he
says, " we feed our farms, they will feed and also clothe us
well in return.

From such experience as this in tilling the soil, is it any
wonder that the forest enthusiasts have to complain of the tar-
diness of those who have cleared the land, in Mlino- in with
their Utopian ideas about the country being destroyed about
our seasons being changed, about the rains not coming si often
nor so gentle and so on. That there is a great variation in the
seasons, we all know This spring, with the least woods we ever
had, has been as early and fine and the rains as gentle if not
more so, than any spring for 40 years ; while last spring was
a late one, with cold and heavy rains. In 1864, with a great
dea more woods than now, we had in May three cold rains a
r^clo y ^' ^^^^ ''^''' finishing with snow ; and the year before
1863 May was a summer month. In 1847, when this part was
about all woods, there was a heavy snowstorm on the 15th of
June In the College Report for 1884. we learn that for the
months of August September, and October, the number of days
on which ram fell, were 10.12 and 10 respectively ; while the
year before, for the same months, they were only 2 6 6 • but
that about as much rain fell in the six days of September 'as in
the twelve the year after. These differences, just one year apart
seem to spoil the theory that the trees are such an important
factor in regulating the weather.

Mr Phipps would press on all owners of farms to make a shel-
ter belt broad enough for a small forest on the most exposed sides
to keep off the winds. This might seem very nice on cold windv
days, but it is not on such days the farmer has to be working
out so much as on warm sultry days— and to be haying and har-
vesting in hot weather under the lea of a forest is anything but
desirable besides the great difficulty often in securing crops in
fhem ^^®'"® y^" ^^°"^^ *^*v® ^^^ wiiid to help to dry

• Forestry and farming are two things, and either, to be a suc-
cess require to be pretty well separated. And while most places
can have a good many trees to advantage if judiciously arranged
to act upon the advice of some persons, there would soon be a
much greater mistake made than has been in what they term the
over-clearing of the forests. The first raising I was at in this
lownship (Colling wood), it came on a storm, and when the
trees commenced to crash down, the stampede that was made
tor a small chopping there was, showed everyone to be minding
his own business. In the run I lost my hat, and had to put my
head under a log to save it from the hailstones. " Say not thou
what IS the cause that the former days were better than these'
tor ttiose do not enquire wisely concerning this." '