82 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



In some countries the rays of the sun strike 

 the ground with great heat, and the rain during 

 most of the year is entirely absent and for short 

 periods falls in torrents. On the hill-sides of 

 such countries, if there are no forests, the soil 

 is baked dry by the sun ; and when the rain 

 falls torrentially, it washes the soil into the 

 valleys. In the absence of woodland areas 

 which could retain the water and release it 

 gradually, the rivers are generally empty, and 

 when the torrential rains come they are turned 

 into floods, which disappear shortly after the 

 cessation of the rains. 



Woods are beneficial to the climate in any 

 country where the sun's rays are very strong 

 and the rain falls at long intervals and in tor- 

 rential downpours. They are injurious if the 

 warmth of the sun is less than is desirable, and 

 there is a regular and excessive rainfall. 



Northern Africa and parts of Syria are in- 

 stances of countries whose climate has been 

 injuriously affected by the removal of forests. 

 There are also instances of benefits derived from 

 the removal of forests. The barbarians who 

 attacked the declining Roman Empire are 

 recorded to have frequently crossed the Danube 

 and the Rhine with their wagons on the ice. 



