HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



How Rainfall is Effected by the Demolition of the 



Forests, 



Every occurrence in nature is precoileU by 

 other occurrences wliicli are its causes, and 

 succeeded by others which are its efifects. 

 The human mind is not content with observ- 

 ing and stuilying any natural occurrence 

 alone, but derives pleasure from connecting 

 every natural fact with what has gone be- 

 fore it, and with what is to come after it. 



"Americans are still living who witnessed 

 the burning in log heaps of black walnut and 

 white oak, in order to clear the land for the 

 use of Ohio and Indiana pioneers. Today, 

 black walnut in that same territory is little 

 more than a memory, and the finer grades 

 of white oak command half the price of ma- 

 hogany. Thus, in one generation, the country 

 has passed from surfeit to hunger; in 

 another, it will pass from hunger to starva- 

 tion. ' ' 



In this graphic language the North Ameri- 

 can Review of Reviews gives a summary of 

 the history of the lumber industry in the 

 eastern states and states of the middle west. 



Before the fact that the destruction of 

 trees affects the rainfall is explained, a few 

 words in regard to the exhaustion of timber 

 here in Canada will not be inappropriate. 



Ontario has duplicated the folly of her 

 neighbors across the line. A few years ago, 

 men pointed out stumps in southwestern On- 

 tario from which walnut had been cut, rolled 

 into log heaps, and burned. In the winter 

 of the coal famine, farmers in Wentworth 

 county saw pine stumps sell for more as fuel 

 than trees cut from these stumps had brought 

 as lumber within the memory of these same 

 farmers. People are now living in York and 

 Ontario counties, who remember when plank, 

 cut from pine trees growing in the neighbor- 

 hood, formed a section of the roadway on 

 Kingston road, and covered the whole of the 

 highway from Whitby, north to Manches- 

 ter, and when cord-wocxi was delivered at 

 docks on the north shore of Lake Ontario, for 

 the use of the Montreal boats, at a price 

 which represented little more than the cost 

 of cutting. Today, there is scarcely a mature 

 pine to be seen in either of the two counties, 

 and in the south riding of Ontario, and prac- 

 tically the whole of York, at least 90 per 

 cent of the farmers are dependent on im- 

 ported conl for their winter firing. People 

 little past middle life can recall a time when 

 wolves chased deer through lands then cov- 

 ered with forest, which are now within sound 

 of the factory whistles of Uuelph, and when 

 there were but occasional clearings in the 

 whole country lying north of a line drawn 

 from Kingston to Goderioh. Not only have 

 the residents in the older part of the prov- 

 ince of Ontario almost reached the point of 

 exhaustion, in their natural fuel supply, but 

 timber and lumber for building purjioses com- 

 maml such exorbitant prices that some farm- 

 ers are seriously considering the use of steel 



and cement for the framework of outbuild- 

 ings, while shingles for the same reason are 

 being brought all the way from British Co- 

 lumbia. 



Fortunately, the warning conveyed by the 

 situation has been heeded before it was too 

 late. Under the late liberal administration, 

 large areas of forest 'and were set aside as 

 permaucut resei i'es, from which trees are to 

 be cut only as they mature. The present gov- 

 ernment has not only continued this policy, 

 but it has been stated that measures are to 

 be taken to limit the opening of land for 

 settlement, to such areas as are really adapted 

 to agricultural purposes. 



All this goes to prove that our timber is 

 becoming exhausted, and we must find ways 

 and means to assure a sufficient supply of 

 timber for all time to come; far from least 

 among the considerations involved, the dan- 

 ger of loss from drought, and destruction by 

 cyclone will be greatly reduced. Only last 

 summer, Ontario farmers suffered exceeding- 

 ly heavy losses, just on account of what is 

 called the ' ' dry season. ' ' 



The old Greeks were wise men in their 

 day, and with them, the word dendrokopein 

 (to cut down trees) meant also to destroy, 

 lavage, and utterly ruin a country. We, or 

 those who come after us, shall find to our 

 cost, that the Greeks were philosophers in so 

 using the word. By cutting down the trees 

 upon mountain sides and ravines, we are in- 

 evitably entailing two great evils upon pos- 

 terity — a scarcity of fuel and a scarcity of 

 water. The former evil is the most obvious, 

 but the latter is equally certain and more 

 formidable. The lack of wood for fuel may 

 be supplied from our abundant accumulations 

 of coal ; but no art or labor can supply a sub- 

 stitute for water. 



The hidden fountains of all our springs 

 and rivers are in the atmosphere. Every drop 

 of fresh water is drawn, in the form of dew 

 or rain, from these inexhaustible, ever re- 

 newed reservoirs. Trees act in many ways 

 in regulating and distributing the supply of 

 moisture. In certain localities they even 

 produce a sensible effect upon the amount of 

 moisture deposited from the atmosphere. 



Thus, in the island of Saint Helena, great 

 attention has been paid within the last half 

 of a century, to the planting of trees upon 

 the steep bare hillsides; and it has been 

 found that the fall of water has almost 

 <louble<l since the lime Napoleon was im- 

 prisoned there. The reason seems obvious. 

 The temperature of trees, in hot climates, 

 is always lower than that of the surround- 

 ing atmosphere. The winds, bringing mois- 

 ture from the ocean over which they have 

 lia.sse<l, sweep over the island. The trees con- 

 den.se this, and it is deposited in (lew or rain. 



Still more remarkably is this shown by the 

 famous fountain trees on Ferro, one of the 



Canary Islands. So great is their condens- 

 ing power that they always seem to be 

 wrapped in a vapory cloud, and the moisture 

 collects in drops upon the leaves, trickles 

 down the branches and stems, and collecting 

 into a reservoir at their base, forms a per- 

 petual fountain. 



Some years ago, much was heard of 

 drought and consequent famine in the Cape 

 de Verd Islands. The soil is of a peculiarly 

 porous nature, and therefore requires a con- 

 stant supply of moisture as an indispensable 

 condition of fertility. For a long time the 

 climate had been growing less and less 

 humid. The Socorridos, the largest river in 

 Madeira, formerly had a sufficient depth of 

 water to float timber down to the sea. It 

 is now a mere rivulet, whose waters, except 

 in flood time, are scarcely discernible as they 

 trickle along its pebbly bed. The diminution 

 of moisture can be traced directly to the 

 forests that formerly covered the mountain 

 sides. 



The Portuguese government was early 

 aware of this, and laws were framed pro- 

 hibiting the cutting of trees near springs 

 and sources of streams. But timber was 

 valuable, and the land was wanted for vine- 

 yards. Portuguese laws were powerless 

 against the demands of immediate interest, 

 so the trees were cut down, the springs failed, 

 and fountains dried up. Ilence came 

 drought, famine and destitution. Present 

 gain nnist sometimes be purchased by future 

 loss. It is not good policy to kill the goose 

 that lays the golden eggs. 



Trees regulate the supply of moisture in 

 many ways, even where we cannot suppose 

 that they affect its absolute amount. The 

 evaporation from their leaves is considerable, 

 and this diffused through the atmosphere, is 

 wafted over wide tracts of country. They 

 shelter the ground beneath them, and thus 

 l)revent the water that falls, from being 

 carried off by evaporation, allowing it to 

 penetrate the earth, keeping the springs and 

 fountains in perpetual flow in the driest sea- 

 sons. Their roots and fibers penetrate the 

 soil, preventing it from being washed away 

 by sudden showers, and forming a sort of 

 sponge that absorbs the water. This it gives 

 out slowly and uniformly, thus equalizing 

 its flow, preventing droughts on one hand, 

 floods on the other. 



When the forests on hillsides and ravines 

 are cut down the rain runs off them as from 

 a roof. A sudden shower swells every rivu- 

 let into a torrent. Every tiny brook pours 

 its accumulation at once into the rivers, 

 whose channels are inadequate to carry off 

 the sudden increase, hence disastrous inun- 

 dations, followed at intervals by low water. 

 The supply of water that should have been 

 distributed over weeks is exhausted in hours. 

 That which should have bubbled up in springs 



