138 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY. 



impossible, and one never sees a scorched and dead wood, such 

 as covers so large an area in the province of New Brunswick, 

 for instance. But in the interior, where the catinga forests 

 drop their leaves, and are dead for several months in the dry 

 season, fires are easily kindled and the wood killed; and 

 fires set in open fields or campos, for the purpose of pro- 

 ducing a new crop of grass, may spread to the neighboring 

 catingas. It is the opinion of many writers that a large part 

 of the catinga and campos regions of the Brazilian highlands 

 was once covered by forests, and that their present bare ap- 

 pearance and the character of their florae is in a very great 

 measure due to frequent and extensive burning over of the 

 country. Every year the Brazilian campos lands are sys- 

 tematically and almost entirely burned over, for the purpose 

 of producing a new crop of grass. This burning, of course, 

 has destroyed all those trees and shrubs and plants of all 

 kinds that cannot bear the scorching, and has wrought a great 

 alteration in the character of the whole flora of the region ; 

 the climate also has suffered a change, for with the destruction 

 of the woods and forests it becomes hotter, the unprotected 

 earth is like a furnace, streams run diy a few days after a 

 shower, and the springs disappear." 



The following geographical instances of the 

 effects of forests on climate are referred to by 

 Becquerel in a previous quotation.* 



* Eeprinted, by permission, from " Keport upon Forestry," 

 1877, by Franklin B. Hough. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office, 1878. 



