112 RELATIONS OF TREES TO WATER. 



man disturbs this arrangement, he may produce evil con- 

 sequences which he had never anticipated. We are not, 

 however, to conclude that we may not improve the soil 

 and climate by changing the original condition of this 

 wooded surface. The clearing of the forest may be re- 

 duced to a science whose laws are as sure and unexcep- 

 tionable as those of mechanics and hydraulics. Though it 

 has not gained much attention from the public mind, it is 

 well understood by the learned who have made this branch 

 of vegetable meteorology their special study. Our danger 

 lies in neglecting to apply these laws to operations in the 

 forest, and in preferring to obtain certain immediate com- 

 mercial advantages, at the risk of inflicting evils of incal- 

 culable extent upon a coming generation. 



