STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 141 



and fbrceB them to yield,, though in a comparatively Blight degree. Statistics, carefully 

 tiered, show that In Europe, changes In climate, and especially in regard to the fall of 

 rain, the prevalence of storms, have followed the felling of trees, the removal of forests, 

 <fcc. The same thing has been noticed in ourown country, and especially In New Eng- 

 land. I will cite a few Instances as quoted by Marsh In his " Man and Nature," to show 

 the truth of this. It is the testimony of the great majority of physicists who have in- 

 vestigated thi^ subject, that forests have the effecl to render tin- air moister, mor ma- 



ble in temperature, and the fall of rain more even ami constant ; that wooded countries 

 arc not Bubject to such violenl Btorms as arc those thai arc treeless. 



" Clave, in his studies upon Forest Economics, states that the terrible droughts which 

 d isolate the (ape Verd Islands, must be attributed to the destruction of the forests. In 

 the island of St. Helena, where the wooded surface has considerably extended within a 

 few years, it has been observed that the rain has increased in the same proportion. It is . 

 now in quantity double what it was during the residence of Napoleon. In Egypt, recent 

 plantations have caused rain- which were hitherto almost unknown." Sir John Hersehel 

 enumerates as among the influences unfavorable to rain — "Absence of vegetation in 

 warm climates, and especially of trees. This is no doubt, he says, one of the reasons of 

 the extreme dryness of Spain. The hatred of a Spaniard towards a tree, is proverbial. 

 Many districts in France have been materially injured by denudation, and on the other 

 hand, rain has become more freqnent in Egypt since the more vigorous cultivation of the 

 palm tree. The narratives of travelers show the deplorable consequences of felling the 

 woods in the islands of Trinidad, Martinique, San Domingo, and indeed in almost the en- 

 tire Wesl Indian group. In Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, and Northern Af- 

 rica, which in ancient times were the granaries of Europe, fertile and populous, similar 

 consequences have been experienced. These lands arc now deserts, and it is the destruc- 

 tion of the forest- alone, which has produced this desolation. 



In Southern France, many districts have, from the same cause, become barren wastes 

 of stone; and the cultivation of the vine and the olive has suffered severely, since the 

 baring of the neighboring mountains. On the other hand, examples of the beneficial 

 influence of planting and restoring the woods, are not wanting. In Scotland, where 

 many miles square have been planted with trees, this effect has been manifest, and simi- 

 lar observations have been made in Southern France. In Lower Egypt, both at Cairo 

 and near Alexandria, rain randy fell in considerable quantity. For example, during the 

 French occupation of Egypt, about 1798, it did not rain for sixteen months; but since 

 Mehamet All and Ibrahim Pacha have execnted thelrvast plantations, there now falls a 



good deal of rain, especially along the coast, in the months of November, December and 



January; and even at Cairo it rains, both oftener and more abundantly, so that real 

 Bhowers are no rarity. Boussingaull says — after examining the question with much 

 (■an- — " in my Judgment, it is settled that very large clearings must diminish the annual 

 fall of rain in a country." 



The Influence of trees upon the flow of springe is well known and generally acknowl- 

 edged. In New England it is a common observation, and one thai almost any residenl 

 of the wooded sections can confirm, that as trees are cut down, springs dry up, and that 

 in many Instances they may be recovered by suffering a second growth to cover the 

 ground. I have myself seen several such Instances. It is also remarked by mill men 

 that as the woods are cut down the freshets become greater, but at the same time they 



