674 The Joiirnal of Forestry. 



which are suffering from the want of a due proportion of forest within 

 their boundaries. Summarizing the most noted examples of the 

 destruction of forests in ancient, mediaeval, and modern times, and the 

 numerous evils resulting therefrom — in the decrease of rains with 

 consequent fallen rivers and dried-up brooks, extended deserts, and 

 depleted populations, in many countries in the Eastern hemisphere, 

 he teaches by their example how to avoid the primary cause of such 

 dire calamities, and the urgent necessity that exists for beginning in 

 time to repair the mischief caused by man's ignorance and improvi- 

 dence. It is beyond a doubt that trees attract the clouds which 

 produce rain, conduct it into the earth, and retain it there for the 

 supply of springs and streams. When trees are felled, the parching 

 heat of the sun dries up the face of the ground, and its moisture is 

 rapidly carried off by evaporation from its bare unprotected surface, 

 instead of percolating through the earth to the reservoirs and channels 

 of the springs, and through them maintaining the brooks, streams, 

 and rivers at a healthy level. 



" The facts are abundant, that to part with the trees is to lose the 

 springs they protect, the running streams the springs supply, and the 

 volume of the broad river. These lost, all the charm of the landscape 

 has fled, and then this source of man's refinement and civilization has 

 also left the world. With loss of rains and springs the fruitfulness of 

 the earth passes away. Grass fails for flock and herd, and the bread 

 of life for man is no longer sure, and only because man has betrayed 

 his trust." 



Our Indian Government ought to give due attention to such 

 indisputable facts, while it is endeavouring to avert the 

 re-occurrence of famine, to improve the country, and to ameliorate 

 its climate. More efficacious work is to be done by assisting 

 the laws of nature in maintaining a due proportion of forest trees for 

 shade and shelter, and the general amelioration of the climate of 

 India, especially on the hills and higher parts, to attract and retain 

 moisture, and supply \vater to the lower parts of the country, than 

 can be done by expending millions of money upon costly irrigation 

 works, and the futile attempt to convince water that it is not its 

 nature to flow downhill. A Select Committee is now being appointed 

 by Government to inquu^e into and report on this and other relative 

 subjects'under the Administration of Public Works in India, which 

 will no doubt make a searching inquiry into the existing condition, 

 extent, and distribution of the forests, and the influence which their 

 presence or absence has had upon the climate and rainfall in the 

 different divisions of the country, more particularly in those districts 

 which have suffered so terribly from the ravages of famine in recent 

 years. From tlie results of such an inquiry, much valuable and most • 

 important information will be gained. 



