TREE PLANTING.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 423, 19 May 1871, Page 2

TREE PLANTING.

The Prairie Fanner very justly coinmem 7! the spirit that has seized the farmers of Illinois to plant forest trees. It is clearly a Providential instinct, for it has swept the counts like an epidemic. Every one asks ? " How man) trees hare you planted this y«ar ?" Not outin a hundred answers " None." At ever\ agricultural meeting menibers vie with eacii other in reporting the largest number and the greatest variety set out. They are mostly from seedj and.usually eight feet apart, to bY thinned out as they expand in dimensions Every one speaks of the increased retentive ness of- the soil for moisture, within the influence of their protection. Especially the\ attest their sheltering effect against the dessi eating and disagreeable winds that arc the great objection to life on the treeless prairies They lvport a notable improvement in healthless ague and rheumatism, and less catarrha. disturbance. A few years ago, some leaderof the movement planted trees as wind-brake? to their orchards and their dwellings. In everr instance these have worked wonders in giviup increased fruit-ages, exemption from spring frosts, and unspeakable comfort to the family and to the barn-yard. The saving of catib feed is found to be no small item ; for even protection from adverse weather enables stoci to thrive on less.fodder. Villages, which a few years ago wore a bare and cheerless look, artnow assuming the sweet attraction of their old New England homes. It favorably affect* immigration. First impressions biro- driren m&ny a new comer from the prairies.' Sine the furor for tree planting, the repulsirenes* is fast being changed to attractiveness. Among the beneficial effects of the youug forest may be mentioned many permanentlyflowing springs, which had long ceased to run. and new ones not previously observed. Wt wish this tree-planting epidemic would extend to California. There are premonitory symptoms indicating that the contagion has reached our borders.— Rural Press.