Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1904 — The Value of Trees. [ARTICLE]

The Value of Trees.

In many parts of our country farming would be impossible but for the trees, such is their influence upon the streams. They regulate the watersupply, and their tendency is to prevent both floods and drought; they supply fuel, one of the greatest necessities of life, and they furnish the lumber for the building of our cities, railroads, ships and a thousand other things without which our present state of civilization would not have been possible for ages, if at all. This is why we should be careful of our forests, which are fast dwindling away in many sections; this is why we should legislate against sheep-grazing in the forests, and against all other practices which tend to cause forest fires, and why we should try to protect our trees from their natural enemies, such as landslides, floods, insects and fungi. And it is well to bear in mind the fact that we cannot replace in fifty years a tree which we can destroy in an hour. —Woman’s Home Companion.