122 JOURNAL OF fore;stry 



to Great Britain, and for inferior kinds to Japan and China, and also 

 Australia, has been developed. 



Weekly Bulletin, Department of Trade and Commerce, Vol. XVII, No. 711, 

 1917, PP- 541-545. 



SOIL, WATER, AND CLIMATE 



Through Indian Engineering we are made 



Forest aware of the fact that the government of India 



Influences has lately made a most comprehensive canvass 



in from province to province throughout India and 



India Burma to ascertain what experiences have been 



had regarding the influence of forest cover on 



rainfall and streamflow. The results have been published in a note 



(where?) by M. Hill, Conservator of Forests, Central Provinces. 



One very common illusion is dispelled by this inquiry, namely, that 

 there have been noticeable climatic changes in India during the last 50 

 years. Rainfall is very variable and experiences periodic increases and 

 decreases ; as a whole, it depends on factors outside of the country, but 

 is affected within the country by local conditions. The effect of forests 

 is small, increasing it, according to Dr. Gilbert Walker, over them at the 

 outside by 5 per cent, and it remains doubtful if areas outside the forest 

 are affected at all. The water table was found to fluctuate with the 

 rainfall. 



The inquiry did not bring evidence that, on the whole, the flow of 

 rivers and streams was less equable, that floods were shorter in dura- 

 tion and more violent, and that streams dried up more quickly. Yet 

 actual forest destruction in catchment basins of individual rivers and 

 streams was observed as producing damage. This is reported from the 

 Punjab, Bengal, and Assam. In other cases, where no such damage is 

 observed, it may be questioned whether deforestation has taken place. 



In certain localities startling evidence of forest denudation is, how- 

 ever, furnished. "It might be taken as certain that in the absence of 

 any definite policy of conservation, Chota Nagpur and many parts of 

 Orissa would, to the irreparable ruin of their prosperity, at no distant 

 date be stripped of all growth except worthless shrubs." Of the south- 

 ern Shan States, and of the Myelat Plateau in particular, it is stated 

 that in pursuance of the practice of shifting cultivation the pine and 

 oak forests have been cleared, with the result that nine-tenths of the 



