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WIND ROSETTE FOR MONTHS OF DECEMBER, JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, FOR THE YEARS 1864, 1865, 1866, AND JANUARY, 1867.

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But not only is our S. W. wind the most prevalent wind in the central part of our State, but, also, it is during our cold season our coldest wind. Thus, for the four years past, the Register Thermometer at the Agricultural College has indicacated a temperature at or below zero 54 times, the observations being made once a day. Of these 54 observations, the air was still or variable, 9 times. Wind from W. 3 times; from N. W. 5 times; from N. once; from N. E. twice; from E. twice; from S. E. 4 times; from S. none; from S. W. 28 times. diagram marked Winter Rosette, presents a comparative view of the frequency of winds in any point of the campass, with the thermometer at or below zero of Farenheit's Thermometer.

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Both of these diagrams show how fearful a scourge is this S. W. wind, in the central part of our State, and answer with remarkable distinctness the question, from what wind should the farmer especially seek to guard himself?

That it is shelter from this wind that is needed to protect the farmer and fruit-grower, is shown by several facts. It is matter of frequent observation in this vicinity that the peach tree growing in a situation protected from the S. W. wind frequently produces fruit, while trees not thus protected are

usually unfruitful. Some remarkable instances have been noticed in this city. A peach tree in Kalamazoo city was in large part exposed to the action of this wind, and produced no fruit, but one branch which lay upon the roof of an out-house and was covered with snow during a few very cold nights produced an abundant crop of fruit.

Even very slight barriers exert a surprising influence in guarding from the effect of wind. Thus Becquerel states, “In the valley of the Rhone, a simple hedge, two metres in height, is a sufficient protection for a distance of twenty-two metres," or a wind-break will protect a width of space eleven times its height. This is strikingly shown in the case of the wheat crop in this State. Mr. Lyon states in Report of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture for 1865, page 252: "I is presumed that during the season alluded to, few of us failed to observe that even the protection of a ridge or dead-furrow, running north and south through a field of wheat, was sufficient to preserve a streak of green, where all else was brown and bare; and that the shelter of a fence was the means of preserving a still greater breadth; while the interposition of a hedge of oak grubs or a body of timber invariably secured the preservation of a fair crop over a still greater breadth of ground, often amounting to an entire field."

In many parts of this State, it is found that if farmers harrow in their wheat, and then roll the ground smooth, the crop is usually an entire failure; if harrowed and not rolled, a partial crop is secured, but if plowed in with gang plows, the furrows running north and south, a good crop is almost certain. The reason why a good crop is secured when protected from the wind, is not hard to find. In the first place, it is shielded from the bitter biting S. W. wind; and in the second place, it is protected by a mantle of snow which lodges in the furrows or behind the fence and timber belts, and thus covers up the wheat from the destroying cold, for God has made no warmer winter covering for the cold and freezing earth than the snow. Whenever the ground is covered with this mantle,

dropped from Heaven, the vegetation is safe from the deadly cold. But we are not sure of the presence of this covering, nor of its equal distribution over the surface of the ground so long as land is laid open to the sweep of the fierce S. W. wind, or even if it falls, it may rapidly disappear before the wind, either being swept off bodily, or evaporated in the rapidly changed and dry air of the winter winds.

DEPREDATIONS OF INSECTS.

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Many countries are fearfully wasted by the depredations of insects. Thus the locust and grasshopper have, for time immemorial, devoured the vegetation of some countries at the east. In certain portions of our own country the grasshopper threatens to be as great a scourge, as in Asia. The chinch-bug of the prairies, if not as widely known, is equally dreaded. Other forms of insect life will probably appear to scourge the land, from which is driven out the forest, and the forest-loving birds. The following extract from Marsh, indicates an additional control of insect life connected with the forest: "The insects most injurious to rural industry do not multiply in or near the woods. locust which ravages the east with its voracious armies, is bred in vast open plains, which admit the whole heat of the sun to hasten the hatching of the eggs, gather no moisture to destroy them, and harbor no bird to feed upon the larvæ. It is only since the felling of the forests of Asia Minor and Cyrene, that the locust has become so fearfully destructive in those countries; and the grasshopper which now threatens to become almost as great a pest to the agriculture of some North American soils, breeds in seriously injurious numbers only when a wide extent of surface is bare of woods."-Man and Nature, p. 291.

Your committee have thus called the attention of this honorable body to some of the results of this reckless and violent disturbance of the forest economy of our State. Your committee are painfully conscious that they have only very imperfectly and inadequately presented a most important subject, but they hope public attention will be aroused on a subject so

intimately connected with the future welfare of our State, and that our intelligent farmers and land owners, may devise some means to stay a great and growing evil. It is time that unthinking destruction should stay its ruthless hand, and preserve for future generations a portion of the blessings we so richly enjoy. Cicero describes his ideal old man as busy in planting trees, who, when asked why he planted trees whose fruit he would never taste, replied "Others planted, and I have eaten the fruit: why should not I plant for the generations to come?" The forests of our noble State were planted by our father, God, and why should we not preserve a portion at least for the generations coming after us, or when our wasteful improvidence has stripped the earth of this inestimable blessing, why should we not restore in part, that other generations may receive a portion of that which was too bountifully bestowed upon us?

The necessity for the landowners of this State to adopt some efficient means for the preservation of our forests, becomes evident from another consideration. Among other nations, large tracts of land are kept in forest, either as parks and game preserves, or as government reserves for timber. These are the property of the State, and are carefully preserved from destruction, or re-planted as fast as the timber is removed. The nobility also take a just pride in their parks and forests. In these ways large portions of many countries are preserved in forest. But there are no such conservative influences at work in our State. The Government has no permanent timber reserves, parks or game forests. The care and preservation of the forests are entirely in the hands of individuals, and hence the greater responsibility resting upon them. The only landed nobility in America is the farmer, and he must preserve his parks and forests, or else forfeit his title of a noble-man!

REMEDIAL MEASURES.

The task of remedying these evils, by legislation, is a subject beset with many difficulties. The title of the great body of the

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