23 

 ON THE UTILITY OF THE FORESTS. 



The expediency of conserving forests must primarily depend on their degree of 

 utility. Some of the beneficial functions of forests might readily escape notice if not 

 pointed out, and I will devote the present section of this report to a short exposition of 

 the subject. Few people would deny that forests play an important part in the economy 

 of nature, that they add to the beauty of scenery and prove of great service to man. But 

 it is not always that these advantages can be estimated in pounds, shillings, and pence, 

 and the sense of their utility, taken alone, has seldom been sufficient to prevent the destruc- 

 tion of forests, even by civilised races. To a certain extent, the clearing of woodland is 

 a legitimate process it may transform a barely habitable forest region into a fertile and 

 populous country. Unfortunately denudation has seldom been kept within due bounds, 

 and historic instances show that, in the words of Clave, the prosperity of not a few 

 countries has gone along with the forests that covered them. 



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The beneficial functions of a forest are mainly climatic and economic. There are 

 also other attributes of minor importance which may be noticed first. I refer to the 

 ornamental nature of forests, and to the protection which they afford to game. 



WOODLAND SCENERY. No landscape is complete without woods and water. The 

 disfigurement of a country by the destruction of its forests has always been denounced by 

 those few to whom beautiful scenery is something more than stone and water "and timber. 

 Even from a purely monetary point of view, scenery is to be valued. A bleak and arid 

 country, such as Natal would be without trees, is not conducive to permanent settlement, 

 and therefore retains less wealth than one that is attractive and picturesque. 



FORESTS AND GAME. Many of the forests of Western Europe own their preservations 

 through feudal times to that of game. In England forests have been set apart for game 

 ever since Saxon times, and in English legal phraseology the essential characteristic of a 

 forest is that ofbeing a game preserve. Manwood says : " A forest must always have 

 beasts of venery abiding in it, otherwise it is no forest " ; and Blackstone defines a forest 

 as " wastegrounds belonging to the king, replenished with all manner of chase or venery, 

 which are under the king's protection for the sake of his recreation and delight." Game 

 may easily be protected together with forests, and no doubt there are sportsmen to be 

 found still who would hold this a sufficient motive for preserving forests. 



FORESTS AND RAINFALL. The distribution of rainfall primarily determines that of 

 forests. Timber belts everywhere follow zones of heavy rainfall, a co-relation well marked in. 

 warm countries, such as India and Australia. At the Cape, the principal forest regions of 

 Knysnaand the Amatolas, with the Cedar Bergen and Table Mountain, also formerly wooded, 

 are seen to coincide with the four wettest regions, where the rainfall exceeds 30 inches. 

 It is probable that in Natal, the rainfall over the timber belt at the foot of the Drakensberg, 

 is greater than along the coast, though I find that Dr. Mann advanced a contrary opinion. 



