298 EFFECT OF DROUTHS: ELECTRICAL INFUENCE OF TREES. 



On account of tlie differences of evaporation, the water received being equal in 

 ■woods and lields, the latter ought to be more favorable than the former for feeding 

 the deep sources. The obstacles to flow are greater in woods. The gullying effect 

 very small. The soil itself is less dry aud less permeable. 



Loujj studies of M. Belgrand, in tbe basin of the Seine, tend to show- 

 that, other things being equal, the regime of tbe waters and the violence 

 and ra])idity of freshets, depend more on the nature of the inclinations, 

 than upon the covering. 



Effects of drought upon vegetation. 



The climate of New England was found subject to occasional droughts 

 of great severity from the earliest period of settlement,^ but none that 

 equaled in severity that of 1854. With the view of learning its effects, 

 a circular was issued by the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture to in- 

 telligent men in every town in the State, with specific questions — one 

 of wbich was: "IWm^ has been the effect of the drought on forest trees?" 

 The following are conclusions drawn by the secretary of the board from 

 tbe replies: 



Although the trees of the forest had generally made their growth for the year before 

 the drought commenced, yet our returns show that they suffered greatly from its effects; 

 and hero we have another proof of its severity. When a drought is prolonged the 

 leafy organs of all vegetables, not finding their usual nourishment, and losing many 

 of their own juices by evaporation, muit cease to carry on the processes of life with 

 vigor ; in extreme cases they wither and die, aud their less may even cause the death 

 of the plant. In a very dry atmosphere the evaporation trom the foliage of trees some- 

 times has a similar effect. These effects, the falling of the leaves, and the check, to p, 

 considerable extent, of the growth of the tree, were observed on sliallow soils in all 

 parts of the State, during the hot weather of the last season. One farmer of Worces- 

 ter County says: "It has retarded their growth and caused their foliage to fall prema- 

 turely. The mountain ash seems to have been more seriously affected than any other 

 tree that I have noticed. The leaves were actually dead, and most of them fallen, by 

 the first of September." So in Essex County, an observing farmer writes: " Wo feel 

 confident that forest trees have suffered to a considerable extent from the drought. In 

 some instances a whole acre looked as if fire had passsd over it. This is not common." 

 In Middlesex County: " The trees on hills having a rocky substratum had the appear- 

 ance given to a forest when a firo has been in its immediate vicinity, but had not 

 passed directly through it. The leaves turned early, not assuming the usual autumnal 

 tints, but a dingy brown or chocolate color." Another says: " The drought appears to 

 have been very injurious to the walnut in particular; very many of these withered, 

 and probably the coming season will tell a sorry account of the influence of the dr jught 

 upon trees." The results, so far as they may be inferred from these extracts, cannot 

 now be known. 



In considering the remedies possible for alleviation, forest-planting is 

 prominently mentioned (with the usual arguments concerning its effects), 

 the reclaiming of waste land, irrigation, and deep plowing. 



ELECTRICAL INFLUENCE OF TREES. 



Popular belief attributes to the beech tree immunity from the stroke 

 of lightning. Dr. Samuel L.Mitchill, a well-known and highly-esteemed 



' The unprecedented drought of 18.54 led to researches into the past history of the 

 climate, which in the absence of instrumental records could only be inferred from 

 other accounts that have been preserved during the colonial period. From these it 

 appears that drou-hts were experienced in 1623, HW, 1044, 1647, 1648, 165*2, 1664, 1666, 

 1069, 1070, 1072, 1075, 1085, 1080, 1092, 1093, 1704, 1705, 1722, 1720, 1728, 1730, 1737, 1738, 

 1739, 1743, 1740, 1747, 1790, 180.5, 1808, 1815, 1818, 1825, 1820, 1841, 1840, 1847, 1848, 18.5:3, 

 and 1854. Some of these were local, and others general and severe, but none so ex- 

 tensive or destructive as the last one of these years, which embraced not only New- 

 England, but nearly every part of the Union. The season opened with unusually 

 heavy rains. 



The question of change of climate in New England has been discussed by the Hon. 

 John C. Gray, in his Essays: Agricultural and Literary, pp. 109-204. 



