4 ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, NOVEMBER 3, 1875. 



vated rocky ground, where tillage is impracticable, promotes in a 

 high degree both the agricultural and manufacturing interests of 

 individuals, as well as the physical soundness and productive 

 resources of extensive countries. It appears that the influence of 

 forests in a physical, economical, and hygienic point of view, is 

 deseiwing of a more complete investigation than it has yet re- 

 ceived. By felling trees which cover the tops and sides of moun- 

 tains, men in every climate prepare, at once, two calamities for 

 future generations — the want of fuel, and the scarcity of water. 



In reference to the climate of Malta, and the want of trees 

 in the island, Mr Milne Home has written to me as follows : — 



" Having been a couple of months in Malta, and seen the evils 

 arising from want of water, I wrote a paper on the subject, 

 which appeared in the Transactions of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society. Copies of this paper having been sent to Malta, the 

 Governor and Legislative Assembly appointed a Commission of 

 scientific men to take my paper into consideration. The Com- 

 mission reported in favour of my views. In order to carry them 

 out, the Governor (Sir Patrick Grant) sent a message to the 

 Assembly to recommend £1000 a year to be appropriated for 

 ten years, to carry out the scheme of planting the island. The 

 Assembly agreed to vote £800 a year for ten years. 



"The scheme was begun to be put in operation in 1873, so that 

 there has been scarcely time to have many plantations made, and 

 still less to judge of the effects. But I have received written 

 reports mentioning the places where plantations are being formed, 

 and specifying the kinds of trees planted. There is, as you will 

 understand, no possibility of getting young trees from any other 

 country. It is only by seed got from other countries, and grown 

 in the island, that young trees can be raised, in order to be formed 

 into plantations. I can only say, further, that the scheme is in 

 progress, though, of coiirse, many years will elapse before any 

 good effects can become visible." 



Mr Milne Home's plan, you will thus perceive, has been taken 

 up in earnest by the authorities of Malta. His proposals have 

 been favourably noticed in foreign journals, and reprinted by the 

 Austrian Meteorological Society. 



In the last part of our Transactions (p. 285), there is a report by 

 Mr Buchan on the Meteorological Observations made at Carnwath, 

 Lanarkshire, on the influence of forests on climate, particularly 

 as connected with rainfall. The observations have been carried 



