162 



THE CAKADIAN HORTICDLTUETST. 



Data for the investigation of the in- 

 fluence of forests on the all-im])ortant 

 question of rainfall, must be lookc^d for 

 in the eastern pai't of the world, where 

 deforestation has been greatest, and 

 where large districts have thus been 

 entirely altered in tlieir character and 

 capabilities. 



When the Jews first settled in Pales- 

 tine it was a proverbially fertile coun- 

 try, a land flowing with milk and 

 honey, and favored with a pleasant cli- 

 mate. Then the mountain ranges of 

 the country were densely covered with 

 forests, in which the stately cedar of 

 Lebanon held a prominent place. The 

 gradually increasing population of 

 Palestine enjoyed comfort and abun- 

 dance during many centuries, but a 

 gradual devastation of the forests, 

 which was finally completed by their 

 enemies, produced a wonderful change. 

 The hills of Galileo, once rich pasturing 

 grounds for large herds of cattle, are 

 now sterile ; the Jordan has become an 

 insignificant stream, and several beau- 

 tiful smaller rivers mentioned in the 

 Bible, appear now as stony runs, which 

 cany off the surplus water I'esulting 

 from the melting of snow in spring, 

 but are completely dry dui'ing the 

 greater part of the year. Some few 

 valleys enriched by the soil which has 

 been washed down from the hills, have 

 retained a portion of their fertility, but 

 the country as a whole is arid and deso- 

 late and not capable of sustaining one- 

 fourth of the population it contained in 

 the time of Solomon. 



Under the reign of the Moorish 

 Caliphs, the Iberian peninsula re- 

 sembled a vast garden, yielding grain 

 and fruit in the greatest abundance. 

 Then the sien-as and mountain slopes 

 were covered with a luxuriant growth 

 of timber, which was afterwai'ds vi^an- 

 tonly destroyed under the rule of the 

 Christian kings, while large herds of 

 half-wild goats and sheep prevented the 



spontaneous growth of trees which 

 would otherwise have taken place on 

 the neglected lands. Now nearly all 

 the plateau lands of Spain are desert- 

 like and unfit for agriculture, because 

 of the scarcity of rain. 



Portions of Sicily, Greece, Italy, 

 France, and other Eui'opean countries, 

 have suffered in like manner, and the 

 plains and hillsides, once luxuriant with 

 verdure, yield now but scanty crops, or 

 are converted into arid wastes. In 

 France the government has adopted a 

 regular system of forest planting, which 

 in proving a great success and which in 

 coui'se of time will doubtless remedy 

 the evils complained of, repay the ex- 

 penses incurred and yield a i-evenue to 

 the public treasury. 



Gennany, which had also suffered 

 from deforestation, was one of the first 

 Euro|)ean nations to set to work ener- 

 getically and systematically to remedy 

 it by extensive planting. The work 

 was begun nearly two hundred years 

 ago, and during this period the country 

 has been brought from the condition of 

 a wood famine to a state in which there 

 is now grown annually more wood than 

 the country needs to use. It is esti- 

 mated that with the systematic plant- 

 ing now regularly carried out, Gernumy 

 can cut from ten to fifteen billions of 

 feet of lumber from its thirty-five mil- 

 lions of acres of wood lands yearly, for 

 all time to come, a product from which 

 the State is said to receive a net revenue 

 of nearly forty millions of dollars per 

 annum. Besides all this, while in 

 many other countries the climate and 

 soil have deteriorated to an alaruiing 

 extent, Germany has gained in fertility, 

 and tracts of formerly woi-thless land 

 have been brought under sue ;essful cul- 

 ture, and the climate, if it has not im- 

 proved, as some claim, at least has not 

 deteriorated. 



Other countries are following the ex- 

 ample of Germany, and systematic 



