54 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1919 



THE OWNERSHIP OF OVERHANGING TREES. 



A man has no right to any portion of a tree or 

 the fruit thereof that may overhang his property, 

 while growing on a neighbor's land. 



Such is the interestmg verdict reported by 

 the Royal English Arboricultural Society as 

 follows : 



"A case dealmg with this point came before 

 His Honour Judge Parry, at Maidstone on 

 November 13 last. The plaintiff had several 

 apply tr3es growing on his land about 8 feet 

 from the boundary. The branches of these 

 trees overhung the land of the defendant. The 

 defendant picked the apples off the branches and 

 sold them. The plaintiff brought an action for 

 wrongful conversion, and was awarded £10 



damages. The contention on the part of the 

 defendant was that, as he had the right to lop 

 the branches of the trees which overhung his 

 land, he had the right to pick the apples. 



His Honour said {inter alia) the defendant's 

 right to lop could not be contested, assuming 

 that it was done in a reasonable way, in accord- 

 ance with the custom of fruit farmers, at a 

 proper season, and without unnecessary injury 

 to the tree. When the branches were severed, 

 however, that did not give the defendant any 

 property in them or in the fruit on them. In 

 law the branches or fruit, which formerly 

 savoured of real property, had then by severance 

 become personal property, but the property re- 

 mained in the owner of the tree." 



EFFECT OF TREES ON RAINFALL 



Those who read Dr. Fernow's interesting 

 statement in the December Forestry Journal on 

 "Do Forests Affect Rainfall?" will peruse the 

 following opinion issued by the New South 

 Wales Forestry Commission in a recent bulletin: 



The effect which forests have upon the total 

 annual rainfall is much disputed. For the pre- 

 sent it is sufficient to state that, though careful 

 French investigations extending over many years 

 appear to indicate that forests cause a consider- 

 able increase in the rainfall, irrespective of the 

 direction from which the rain-beanng winds may 

 come, the principle has not yet been proved to 

 the satisfaction of all concerned, while in 

 Australia the question has not received adequate 

 attention. If there be any effect of this nature, 

 it does not necessarily follow that the quantity 

 of rain reaching the soil of a forest is greater 

 than would have been received if the soil had 

 remained bare, for a considerable percentage of 

 the rainfall is intercepted by the crowns of the 

 trees, and, being spread over a very large sur- 

 face, is evaporated before it can reach the 

 ground; consequently, for the present no im- 

 portance need be attached to this question from 

 the point of view of the welfare of the forest 

 itself. 



The total annual rainfall is, however, of less 

 importance to a forest than the distribution of 

 rain throughout the year; but, unfortunately, 

 in this connection also Australia lacks accurate 

 data showing the effect of the forest. French 

 observations show that forests cause a more 



equable distribution, and it may be stated for 

 what it is worth that popular opinion in the 

 Atherton district of North Queensland, where 

 comparatively large clearings of dense forests 

 have been made during the last twenty years, is 

 that the gentle "scrub" drizzle is now far less 

 frequent than formerly. Such an alteration must 

 undoubtedly be unfavourable from the stand- 

 point of the forest, for young seedling growth, 

 which benefits greatly from light showery and 

 cloudy weather, is adversely affected by periods 

 of hot sunny weather following upon storms. 



Although the effect of the forest on rainfall is 

 uncertain, accurate observations made have 

 shown conclusively that forests have a local 

 influence on the temperature of the soil and on 

 the temperature and moisture contents of the 

 atmosphere adjoining. The forest moderates 

 the extremes of heat, in that the temperature of 

 the forest soil and air is lower during the day 

 and higher during the night than that of grass 

 land adjoining. Also the humidity of the air in 

 and over a forest is greater than that of air over 

 open country, thus reducing slightly the evapora- 

 tion of moisture, though neither this nor the 

 former influence can be considered of very great 

 importance. Of far greater moment are the 

 screening effect of the forest cover in lessening 

 radiation of heat and thus reducing frost dan- 

 ger, and in protecting the soil from the heat of 

 the sun and the drying influence of strong 

 winds, thus greatly reducing the loss by evapora- 

 tion of moisture in the surface soil. 



