resulting from cxccssicc CY<''//v /'//>. 



"27 



lire during u civil war. The conse- 

 quences were not long in following, 

 and has transformed this country into 

 u kind of arid desert. The water- 

 coin>es are dried up, and the irrigat- 

 ing canals empty. The moving 

 sands of tin- de>ert, being no longer 

 restrained \>y barriers of forests. : ne 

 every day gaining upon the land, 

 and will lini.-h by transforming it 

 into a desert as deflate as the soli- 

 tudes that separate it from Khiva." 



spersed by rivulets, reservoirs and 

 canals, prc.-ent a nu^t lively picture 

 of industry and happiness. The rich 

 valley of S>gd produces so great an 

 abundance of grapes, melons, pears, 

 and apples, that they are exported to 



and even to lliiido>tan.'" 

 The same writer ( Malte-Brun), 

 again citing from the same author, 

 says: '"I have often been at Kohen- 

 d..-, the ancient capital of Buehuria. 

 I have ea-t my eyes all around, and 

 never have I seen a verdure more 

 frc.-h or abundant, or of wider ex- 

 tent. This green carpeting mingled 

 in tli horizon in the axure of the 

 . The -imple \ crdiire >er\ i .1 :t- 

 t of ornamental offset to the 

 towns contained in it. Numerous 

 country R< juplic- 



ity of the field-. Hence I am not 

 surprised that, of all the inhabitants 

 of Korasan and Maweralnahr. none 

 attain a more adv.-. than 



of Bucharia.'" 

 I . (itu'jrujilii/, i, 470. 



112. We need not go out of our own country in witness r<|tial 

 examples of irreparable injuries done by improvident clearin: 

 pcrhap.- on a smaller scale, but not less di.-a.-tr"ii- in n-snlt. In the 

 olilcr settled portions oi' New England, in the Middle State.-, and 

 in the South, there are arid hills and worn-out tields, no longer 

 worth any tiling l'"r cultivation or pasturaire, and that otter, as 

 the only chance of restoration to a useful purpose, tin.- possibility of 

 growing i : 



113. The abundance of cliff-dwell ings and other ruins, in western 

 Colorado and New Mexico, appears to show that that iv^ion was 

 once capable of sustaining a larger population than would be now 

 possible from existing means of cultivation. It is of course not 

 known as to what has caused this diil'erence, but the destruction of 

 forests appears to afford the most probable ivu.-nn. 



114. Mr. B. II. Baden-Powell, in a report on the Administration 

 of the Forest Department of India (1877, vol. i, p. 51j, in speak- 



