527 



the depth of 2^ inches, which was more than in the same mouth in any 

 year since 1858, when 3^^ inches fell. The next highest amount was in 

 1869, 2^ inches. In San Francisco the United States signal-service 

 report that in the twenty-four hours ending at 8 p. m., November 23, 

 4:^Q inches fell. Eain has been general in the interior. At Yreka, it is 

 claimed that 7f inches fell during one storm in November, making a 

 total of 11^ inches for the month, and of 20 inches for the season. 



Influence of trees on rain-fall and climate At a recent 



meeting of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, a report was made by 

 Mr. Buchan, secretary of the Scottish Meteorological Society, of ex- 

 periments on rain-fall at Carnwath. "The forest selected contained 

 about 62 acres, and a little outside, to the northwest, was a green knoll 

 quite clear of trees. In the interior of the wood, and 320 yards distant, 

 was another knoll of precisely similar character. Immediately on the 

 top of the western slope of this knoll was a bare patch about 50 feet in 

 diameter, and this was surrounded on all sides with trees of various 

 sorts, varying from 40 to 50 feet in height. The growth of the green 

 sward and of the plants around showed that the situation was well 

 fitted for the inquiry." Two sets of meteorological instruments, 

 exactly alike, were placed, one on each knoll, at exactly the same 

 elevation above the ground. Observations were begun on the 16th 

 of September, 1873, and continued to the end of October, 1874. 

 ''The precise points to be elucidated were the temperature and the con- 

 dition of the atmosphere as regards moisture outside the wood as com- 

 pared with the interior of the wood." In the interior, the highest tem- 

 jjerature was 79o.4; the lowest, 19°; range 60o.4; on the outside, 

 curing the same days as the preceding) the highest, 780,1 ; the lowest, 

 19°.8; range, 58^.53. The mean of all the maximum day-temperatures 

 at the station within the woods was 52o.2; on the outside, 51^.7 ; of all the 

 minimum day-temperatures in the interior, 38C'.8: on the outside, 38^.7. 

 The means of night-temperatures were very nearly identical at both 

 stations during the whole period of observation ; except in June, the 

 difference was never more than a fifth of a degree, but for the days of 

 maximum temperature, the averages showed an excess of half a degree 

 in favor of the station inside. 



The remarkable result disclosed durin<j the annual rise of temperature in the soring 

 and summer months was, that in the inside of the wood the temperature was* two 

 degrees higher than on the outside, while during the annual fall of temperature in the 

 autumn, the temperature of the day inside of the wood was in the mean half a decree 

 lower than on the outside. ° 



In respect to moisture, tlio results were as follows : The averge dew- 

 point, at 9 o'clock in the morning, was, at the interior station, 42o.5 j at 

 the exterior, 42°; at 9 in the evening, respectively, 42^.2 and 40^'. In 

 the month of August the dew-point at the interior was, on the average, 

 1°,8 higher than at the exterior. 



Forestry and deforesting in Ceylon.— A writer in the Ceylon 

 Oberver, from facts in the official report on the forest department of 

 the Madras presidency, concludes that the rainfall would be equally 

 abundant, on the tops of mountains 4,000 to 8,000 feet high, if there 

 were no trees higher than coffee, tea, or cinchona shrubs. He states 

 further that all observation and experience in Ceylon tends to prove 

 that the substitution of coffee-bushes 4 feet, for forest-trees 40 or 60 

 feet high, on elevated lands, will not be followed by a diminution of 

 rainfall in the slightest degree. Those who clear away every tree from 

 their land inflict great injury on their own interests and those of the 

 country, not because they diminish the rain-fall, butbecause from such 



