126 PLANTS AND ANIMALS. [cHap. 
Of such men we have plenty in our midst, and their 
work may be seen in the free and open spaces which 
now adjoin most towns; the restoration of them to 
the people having been brought about only by years 
of ceaseless activity and continued struggles. Such 
men deserve to be honoured by their fellows, and 
doubtless posterity will hold them as distinguished 
as the winner of his country’s battles. 
Man by his greed—his desire to turn even the 
trees and fields to gold, by cutting down the woods 
and forests without planting other trees in their 
stead—has done incalculable damage, and in other 
parts of the world the destruction is still being ruth- 
lessly prosecuted, and the result is a serious altera- 
tion of climate. But this is not all. By cutting 
down our forests, and thus decreasing our rain-fall, 
we are initiating a whole series of changes. First, 
we destroy a number of species of plants that cannot 
live in a dry climate, and with these go a number | 
of insects which depend upon those plants exclu- 
sively for their food. The altered conditions, too, 
may be favourable to other species of insects which 
prey upon other plants perfectly able to endure 
the climatic change; but the greater number and 
increased vigour of their insect-enemies may have 
the effect of seriously diminishing their numbers, 
Again, the changes in the insect fauna, effected by 
the abolition of the forest, will probably have a 
marked effect upon the birds of the district. So 
intricately are animals and plants connected that, if 
we interfere with a species, we cannot tell what 
effects will ensue from such interference. The mere 
