AS COMPARED WITH AN UN WOODED. 17 



tions made bring out distinctly the facts above related. We may, 

 however, remark that Denmark, being situated between two seas — 

 the ocean and the Baltic — possesses a very clamp climate, which, of 

 course, renders local influences less powerful. 



Passing now to the observations made in five localities in the 

 department du Loiret, from August 1865 to April 1868, in a circle 

 of about 20 kilometres (12 J miles), in the middle of woods, under 

 trees, on the outskirts, and in unwooded positions ; and upon a 

 comparison of these with similar registers taken at Paris, it is found 

 that in a space of eight months, one-fourth more rain fell in wooded 

 than in unwooded localities. But whether or not this is an infal- 

 lible fact, it is premature as yet to assert from the absence of a 

 sufficient number and variety of observations. 



M. Becquerel also compared the quantities of rain which fell in 

 places shaded by trees with what fell in places outside the woods, 

 in order to ascertain how much water was retained by the branches, 

 according as they were or were not in leaf, and he proved the 

 following fact, which of course was to have been expected, that the 

 portion retained by the branches is greater in proportion as the rain 

 is less heavy. When the branches are in full foliage, there was 

 0*47 of the quantity of water which falls in an unwooded plain so 

 retained, while it is about one-half of that quantity in winter, the 

 effect varying according as the leaves are more or less shaken by 

 the wind. " What then becomes," he asks, " of the water retained 

 by the branches and leaves 1 " and answers his query, as follows : — 

 " It is probable that the portion which escapes evaporation descends 

 by the trunk and the roots into the soil and subsoil, where it sup- 

 plies the lower springs." Without venturing upon more definite 

 statistical data, for want of a sufficient number of observations, in 

 1868, M. Becquerel came to the fair conclusion that, throughout the 

 arrondissement du Loiret more rain falls in wooded than in un- 

 wooded districts, a conclusion which, there is little doubt, will be 

 amply verified by his subsequent collection of observations, under 

 the same conditions, not only in the same department, but also in 

 different parts of France and abroad. These observations he con- 

 templated combining with others on temperature, from researches 

 conducted by means of instruments for determining the degree of 

 humidity in the air above trees and under them. What these 

 researches have resulted in, we shall be obliged, from the length of 

 this paper, to delay to another occasion. 



Suffice it to say, that all such undertakings, however initiatory 



