172 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY. 



The total quantity of the evaporation, therefore, 

 would by no means be constant. 



It is possible, therefore, that while the existence 

 of the forest over extended sections of country 

 tends on the whole rather to vary the distribution 

 of the rainfall through a change in the rapidity of 

 the drainage, that, nevertheless, it may also, to 

 some extent, tend to produce a change in the total 

 quantity of the rainfall. 



The exact balance of nature that is required to 

 be maintained, in order that the present life of the 

 earth shall exist, can be disturbed by many means. 

 In perhaps no other way does man tend more to 

 disturb this balance than by the destruction of the 

 forests. The removal of the forests from over ex- 

 tended areas effects a disturbance of the balance 

 of nature that is manifested in the following 

 ways: 



1. By a marked change in the heat in summer 

 and the cold of winter in the regions formerly 

 covered by forests. 



2. By a marked change in the average amount 

 of moisture present in the atmosphere over such 

 regions. 



3. By a marked change in the character of the 

 soil in such region. 



