74 Tra iiy.drt'io'iiti. 



uiisty summer nights. Trees also, it was obvious, checked eva- 

 poration from the soil, which had been ascertained to be about 

 foui'teen times less in woods than when the ground was bare. 

 Witli regard to springs, it was matter of frequent experience 

 that the destruction of wood dried these up in many cases. The 

 general effect of woodland was to make the climate of the district 

 more humid ; the planting, early in the century, of the hills on 

 the west side of the vale of Dumfries had made sheep-feeding 

 unprofitable in that quarter, although trees in the course of their 

 growth dried wet land. 



The evil wrought by forest destruction in temperate climates 

 was manifested in devastating floods. When the ground was 

 bare of trees, the rain collected in torrents and rushed otf towards 

 the sea, swelling the rivers to a great height suddenly. The 

 south of France was exceedingly liable to destructive outbreaks 

 of the streams that rise on the northern flanks of the Pyrenees, 

 the lofty summits of which intercepted and condensed the warm 

 vapours brought by south-western gales from the Atlantic. 



Various steps had been taken, especially of late years, to arrest 

 the destruction of forests in France, Italy, Germany, and the 

 United States. Only in this country had nothing been done to 

 that end. In one direction, however, there had been gratifying 

 progress — the planting of trees along the streets of the Metropolis 

 and other large towns ; and thei'e seemed no reason why the good 

 example should not be followed in smaller towns. 



The subject of the economical value of plantations was well 

 worthy of investigation. When, in the early years of this 

 century, the planting of forest trees was strongly advocated by 

 the Highland Society, Dr Hamilton, at its instigation, wrote a 

 treatise of forestry for the use of landholders and tenants, in 

 which he maintained that if two million acres of the waste land 

 of Scotland were planted with larch and other forest trees, their 

 value in a centui-y would equal the amount of the National Debt, 

 besides improving the remainder of the land to the extent of ten 

 millions sterling per annum. Trees, the author observed in con- 

 clusion, unlike all other crops, inci'eased nearly all the year 

 round, and depended less than any on the character of the season; 

 and there were many additional reasons for the practice of arbori- 

 culture, all tending to enforce the exhortation of the moi'ibund 

 laird of Dumbiedykes — "Aye be stickin' in a ti'ee, Jock ; it'll be 

 growin' when ye're sleepin'." 



