MEN OF THE TREES 



action as a cover protecting the soil and air against iso- 

 lation and against winds. That the nature of a cover, its 

 density, thickness and proper position, has everything to 

 do with the amount of protection it affords, everybody 

 will admit. A mosquito net is a cover; so is a linen sheet 

 or a woolen blanket, yet the protection they afford is 

 different in degree and may be practically negligible 

 when the wind blows. It will also be conceded that it 

 makes all the difference whether the cover be placed be- 

 fore or behind the wind. Just so with the influence of 

 the Forest; it makes all the difference whether we have 

 to do with a dense or open, young low, or an old high 

 growth, or what position it occupies with reference to 

 other climatic conditions. 



Soil moisture is due to canopy provided by the close 

 crowded branches and also to the dead leaves below. It 

 is an undisputed fact that the flow of water in most of 

 the rivers, and in many cases from springs, and the 

 height of the sub-soil water, have been most seriously 

 reduced by the removal of the forests, and deforesta- 

 tion is evidently a cause by which our water supply suf- 

 fers most severely. 



As regards the moisture in the atmosphere, whether 

 forest areas are, or are not, capable of appreciably in- 

 creasing rain within their limits or upon neighbouring 

 ground, is still a matter of dispute, and the complexity 

 of the factors which must enter into the discussion has 

 so far baffled solution based upon definite and strictly 

 scientific observation. Yet new evidence is accumulat- 



240 



