124 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY. 



If entirely bare, or deprived of vegetable cover- 

 ing, it both heats quickly and cools quickly. 



The climate of a forest, or, indeed, even of a re- 

 gion protected by a less dense covering of vegeta- 

 tion, closely resembles the equable climate of a 

 water area; that of a bare, arid district, differs 

 greatly from that of a water area. Deserts, for 

 example, are characterized by great extremes of 

 climate, being very warm in summer, or in the 

 daytime, and very cold in winter, or at night. 



The climate of a country, therefore, will be 

 greatly influenced by the presence of the forest 

 districts, and must necessarily be changed, to a 

 greater or less extent, by the removal of such 

 forests from extended areas. 



Humboldt, in " Cosmos," * on page 318, thus 

 describes the influence of land and water areas on 

 oceanic or continental climates ; or, as he styles 

 them, on the insular or littoral climates : 



"I have already alluded to the slowness with which the 

 great mass of water in the ocean follows the variations of 

 temperature in the atmosphere, and the consequent influence 

 of the sea in equalizing temperatures ; it moderates both the 



* " Cosmos," vol. i., by Alexander von Humboldt. London : 

 Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1849. Pp. 480. 



