CLIMATE AND HORTICULTURE OF NEW ENGLAND. 23 



urul society' on this continent. Mr. Wilder congratulated the 

 President on his inauguration, and hoped that all the days of his 

 administration would be as bright as this da}'. 



Col. Henry W. AVilson said that the matter of tlie climate lies at 

 the foundation of all things ; it must be considered in planning a 

 house or a garden. There has been a good deal of speculation as 

 to the effect of forests upon climate. Man}' assert with emphasis 

 that the recent irregularitieis in rainfall are due to the destruction of 

 forests ; and 3'et there is now more forest in Massachusetts than 

 ever before within the memory of man. One town has five thou- 

 sand acres more than sevent3'-five years ago. There is a difference 

 in the character of storms. In some 3'ears we have drought, not- 

 withstanding a great rainfall, and in others a meagre rainfall and 

 no drought. The extraordinaries remain fixed in our minds. There 

 are places on the earth where the plantin'g of trees has seemed to 

 be followed immediately by increased precipitation of moisture. 

 The rainfall in Massachusetts has increased ten per cent in fort}- 

 years ; in the last ten years it was ten per cent more than in the 

 first ten years of the last forty. In Utah the rainfall has increased 

 ten per cent; in the Central States the increase has been eight 

 per cent in the same time. It is idle to speculate on causes when 

 the facts are not fully known ; the result can only be a distortion 

 of facts to support some pet theory ; and no man succeeds in any 

 scientific investigation who mounts a hobby. It is warmer in 

 England than here ; but the fruits there are not equal in flavor to 

 ours, because the summers are cooler and the winters are warmer. 

 Planting forests increases the retentiveness of the soil ; the ground 

 is spongy, and the water passes away slowly. Thus the woodlands 

 may be made to be great natural reservoirs upon the hill-sides for 

 our future water supply. Snow-drifts remain in the forests longer 

 than on the open ground. There are thousands of acres of laud in 

 this State which somebody has got to cover with forests. We get, 

 on the average, sufficient precipitation of moisture, but some 

 years there is too much and other years not enough. 



William T. Brigham presented, on behalf of his brother, Charles 

 B. Brigham, M.D., of San Francisco, Cal., a photograph of double 

 and single Tuberous-rooted Begonias. Dr. Brigham has a great 

 variety of these plants, having collected every kind that he could 

 procure. Some are like double almonds, and others like small 

 white roses, the colors being as various as the forms. The thanks 

 of the Society were voted to Dr. Brigham for the photographs. 



