October i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AORTOULTURIST. 



3°9 



scientific men in most countries as a great climatic problem 

 for a long time past. In some instances a partial solution 

 has been reached, apprising the people that such and such 

 deplorable changes of climate were the inevitable and natural 

 result of artificial changes of the earth's surface, which 

 had been going on for centuries, and which would take a 

 long time to restore to its pristine and genial condition." 

 Further on he says:— "Experience, however, supplies us 

 with one or two important facts, first amoug which is 

 that no marked diminution of average annual rainfall over 

 any extensive region can be traced solely to the denud- 

 ing the earthy surface of forests, although the local effects 

 of such a proceeding are usually well marked." Not that 

 the average rainfall is less than it would otherwise be, 

 but that it is made up by excessive falls at one portion 

 of the year, or at isolated times, with excessive dryness 

 and scarcity of water as the normal condition. But though 

 forests produce little or no effect on the average rainfall 

 of large tracts of country, their presence or absence does 

 make some difference in regard to its distribution and con- 

 sequently to the fertility of the land. Forests are con- 

 servators of the rain that falls, a shower of rain falling 

 upon the trees of a forest is, in part, retained for a time 

 on the foliage and bark of the trees, and of that which 

 falls to the ground, a large portion is absorbed by the 

 living and dead vegetable matter on the surface, evaporation 

 is diminished and the moisture is allowed to quietly sink 

 into the soil, instead of rushing off in floods, and from its 

 gradual accumulation giving rise to springs and rivulets, 

 and equalising the flow of streams and rivers. 



In an article in the Indian Forester, by Surgeon-General 

 Balfour, on the influence of trees on the climate and pro- 

 ductiveness of the peninsula of India, some valuable tables 

 are given showing that the total amount of actual rainfall 

 has not diminished of late years, but that man, by denud- 

 ing the land of forests, is allowing the rain water to rush 

 off the surface, sweeping away with it the mould, breaking 

 down the tank dams, starving the springs and draining off 

 the waters of the springs, rivulets and wells. The rainfall, 

 repeats Mr. Balfour, has not diminished, "but man, partly 

 ignorant and wholly reckless, has denuded the soil of its 

 trees and shrubs and bared the surface to the sun's rays, 

 thus depriving the country of its conservative agents and 

 making the extremes of floods and droughts of more frequet 

 occurrence and more severe." " Storms," says a French 

 writer — M. Fautrat — "are rare in wooded countries, the 

 electricity of the air being gradually drawn of instead of 

 accumulating. Hail especially is rare where there are many 

 trees. M. Cautegoil has tracked many of the hall storms 

 so destructive iu France, and has found that they generally 

 make a leap over a forest. Early in June 1874, for instance, 

 a hail storm which had swept over the department of 

 Aiiege entered that of Aude. As soon as it got to the 

 forest land, the hail totally ceased ; but when it reached 

 the treeless department of the Eastern Pyrenees, it began 

 again with great fury ; yet there was electricity enough 

 in the air over the forests, for several fir trees were struck 

 and shivered to pieces. But hail is caused by the very 

 rapid evaporation of rain passing through an exceedingly 

 dry stratum of air. Evaporation, we know, always causes 

 cold — this is the principle of water coolers, &c. — and in this 

 case the latent heat of the rain is withdrawn so rapidly 

 that the result is frozen rain drops. Hence, in wooded 

 countries, where the air is always moist, the evaporation 

 is slower and rain falls instead of hail." Thus, forests pro- 

 duce various effects on climate and rainfall. There is the 

 chemical action of their leaves, which decompose the carbonic 

 acid of the air, fixing the carbon in their woody tissue 

 and liberating the oxygen. There is their physical action 

 in hindering evaporation and stopping currents of air and 

 in covering the ground with a vegetable mould which holds 

 water like, a sponge. And there is the organic action of 

 the leaves which, in breathing, restores to the air a part 

 of the water which the roots have drained from the soil. 

 Lastly, there is the mechanical action of the roots, which 

 at once prevent the earth from being washed away by 

 rain, and also euable the water to filter down deep into 

 the ground. Forests, then, ought to make a country cooler, 

 by withdrawing the carbon from the air; the heat that 

 is set free when wood is burned is the very heat that 

 was being absorbed while it was growing. " A forest may 

 be looked on as a vast condensing apparatus for storing 



up the heat of the stmosphere. That is what theory says, 

 and experiment confirms it. The mean temperature of a 

 wooded country is always lower than that of a similarly 

 situated treeless country; but— and this is important — the 

 cold is less extreme, as well as the heat, and changes of 

 temperature are gradual. In addition, forests arrest aud 

 destroy miasmata, rendering their site and neighbourhood 

 healthy; they set a limit to the spreading of the spores 

 of rust and other fungi from cornfields and orchards; their 

 humid atmosphere, shade, and the feathered inhabitants 

 they encourage effectually obstruct the march of locusts 

 and other destructive insects, while affording sustenance 

 to and promoting the increase of the honey bee. Forests 

 also benefit mankind by increasing the fertility of the soil, 

 decomposing the rocks by the penetration and chemical 

 action of their roots, aud a aling to the surface soil the 

 mineral elements of vegetable nutrition. In various parts 

 of the globe sterility iias been caused by the destruction 

 of forests on hills aud sloping grounds allowing the floods 

 to wash away the surface soil to such an extent as to 

 produce complete sterility, and the same may happen here 

 if means are not adopted in time to prevent so fatal an 

 occurrence by keeping the soil firmly bound by the roots 

 of trees aud other vegetation, for indeed the destruction 

 has already begun and may be witnessed, on a small scale 

 as yet, in various places A great deal requires to be done 

 also in stopping aud preventing the encroachment of the 

 sands of the sea, and which nothing but planting can 

 thoroughly effect. Let the legislature then no longer dilly- 

 dally with the subject, but make enactments whereby con- 

 servation of both young aud mature timber, and re-ail orest- 

 ing of denuded ground, may be carried out ou a scale 

 commensurate with its importance. — Leader. 



The Mayall Rubber Company's factory at Reading, Mass., 

 was burned on Monday morning, nothing but the engine room 

 being saved. The building was a lar^e one-story brick struct- 

 ure, about 1*5(1 feet long. It had been erected about three 

 years. The company manufactured rubber goods of all de- 

 scriptions. The factory had not been running on full time 

 lately. A large drying room hail just been finished, anil the 

 company were intending to run on full time. There was a 

 large stock of rubber on hand. The loss is estimated at 

 from sl75,000 to $200,000, partly covered by insurance. 

 About 100 persons were employed in the factory. — /»- 

 dependent Journal. 



Various substances have been used to make stoppers for 

 bottles that will replace corks, aud paper has formed the 

 basis of many of these. We now have a more novel use 

 of paper in the drug business in the form of paper bottles. 

 The difficulty of making them waterproof has been overcome, 

 as well as their tendency to be affected by spirits of any 

 kind. The only difficulty that remains is that they must be 

 made in halves, aud be joined together after taken from the 

 moulds where they have been enduring a severe pressure, and 

 where the albumen of some of the ingredients has formed 

 an impenetrable protection, and it only requires that some 

 deserving mechanic eliminate a pulpy alloy that can be 

 used as a solder. — Ibid. 



Salt as a Fertilizes in the OiiLHAiin. — "A.W.Lang- 

 don," Eric Co., N. Y., asks our advice "as to the quantity 

 of salts advisable to use about fruit trees in a old orchard." 

 There is no more positive knowledge as to the value of 

 salt as a fertilizer for fruit trees then there is regarding 

 its utility when applied to 'field crops. The fruit trees to 

 which it appears to have been most beneficial are the plum 

 and quince, and on these it has been used more as a remedy 

 for diseases than as a fertilizer in the proper sense of the 

 term. Sail in sufficient quantity applied to the roots will 

 destroy all vegetation, including the largest trees, hence 

 caution must be exercised. Mr. Meech, the successful quince 

 grower of New Jersey, advises a pint to be applied to 

 the soil around quince trees that are two or three years 

 old. Whether salt will produce a better effect upon old 

 orchard trees than a good dressing of fine bone we much 

 doubt. If applied to old orchard trees we should prefer to 

 try two quarts, sprinkled upon the soil as far as the roots 

 extend to a larger quantity. We hope Mr. L. will try the 

 salt, and also upon some of the other trees, a liberal dress- 

 ing of ashes, of bone flour aud stable manure, and report 

 the comparative result- l7iierican Agriculturist 



