14 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
tion of the leaves. It is the force of the wind which, 
at the same time that it hurls the salt spindrift inland, 
damages the tissues of the trees (3). The favourable wind- 
break effect of screens of trees, or forests, is perhaps one of 
the best arguments for locating sanatoria for tuberculous 
patients in forest districts. 
Dr. W. Gordon (4) proved that the strong prevailing 
westerly and south-westerly winds in Devonshire are 
harmful in phthisis, mainly owing to their chilling and 
depressing effect, though they tend in a lesser degree to excite 
bronchial catarrh in feeble persons. What I wish to 
emphasise is the invariable action of cold wet wind on 
plant and animal life in reducing vitality. To these winds 
are due the formation of peat on wind-exposed sites in 
localities with a high rainfall, as in the mountains of this 
country above a certain elevation. The further west, the 
greater the exposure to the wind and the higher the rainfall 
at low elevations; so that this kind of peat, known as 
mountain peat (5), is prevalent in the west of Ireland on 
land not much higher than 100 or 200 feet above sea- 
level, while in the east of Ireland, as in the Dublin 
mountains, peat scarcely occurs below 1000 feet altitude. 
The advantage of forests and shelter belts to human 
beings, cattle, and crops in wind-swept districts must be 
admitted. .In the western parts of Scotland and Ireland, 
and in Wales, the gardens of the gentry, which are 
surrounded with plantations and belts of trees, are remark- 
able for the luxuriance and variety of their shrubs, flowering 
plants, fruit trees, and vegetables, rivalling often the 
choicest gardens of the Riviera. Outside these sheltered 
erounds the neighbouring peasants in their exposed fields 
can never fatten cattle, and in some seasons lose by 
wind a great part of their corn crops. In the absence of 
protection from wind, they are unable to raise fruit like 
apples, which might be one of the most profitable industries 
in counties like Donegal, Galway, and Kerry. For profitable 
horticulture in these wind-swept districts, the provision of 
shelter by trees is essential. 
