308 FOEESTS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEAR CONSTANTINOPLE. 



removal of wood leads to the diminution of water. In a single sentence, we would say 

 that where human agencies, whether for subsistence or for health, require the destruc- 

 tion of forests, let them be destroyed; but where neither life nor health is concerned, 

 then let a wise system of preservation be introduced and acted upon. 



The planting of such trees as are desirable from the fruit which they afford, or grate- 

 ful from the shade which they yield, is an act which has been held in high esteem in 

 eastern countries, especially India, from very early times. The eastern appreciation 

 of the luxury of shade led to the banks of the canals constructed by the Mohammedan 

 emperors being planted, and the waysides of the imperial roads being lined with trees 

 of various kinds. In the Sunnud of the Emperor Akbar it is directed " that on both 

 sides of the canal down to Hissar, trees of every description, both for shade and blos- 

 som, be planted, so as to make it like the canal under the tree of Paradise ; and that 

 the sweet flavor of the rare fruits may reach the mouth of every one, and that from 

 those luxuries a voice may go forth to travelers, calling them to rest in the cities, 

 where their every want will be supplied."' 



But the planting of trees for timber seems to have been neglected 

 there, as it has been in most other countries, until modern times. This 

 is no doubt owing to self-sown forests being more than sufficient to sup- 

 ply all the wants of man in the earlier states of society. As population 

 and civilization are advanced, such forests are looked upon rather as 

 impediments to agriculture than as sources of wealth, and the means 

 of removing trees are more thought of than the readiest means of prop- 

 agation, or how they should be treated so as to produce the best tim- 

 ber in the shortest time, and in the fullest quantity that the ground is 

 capable of bearing, and so managed that it may yield some profit, even 

 while the timber is growing. 



Australia. 



In the reports made of the resources of the colony of Victoria in con- 

 nection with the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, the 

 committee upon agricultural products used chiefly as food, and on 

 arboriculture, floriculture, and woods, in speaking of the amount and 

 distribution of rain-fall in that colony, remark : 



The growth of timber appears to be much affected by these variations of climate, 

 and although many kinds of forest trees of the same, or nearly the same, varieties are 

 found indifferently in nearly all parts of Victoria, they are of much the largest and 

 thickest growth in localities possessing the most regular rain-fall. This seems to be 

 one of the conditions necessary for their finest develoi^ment. Great difference of 

 opinion exists as to the wisdom of the course pursued in ringing or stripping bark 

 from trees. There can be no doubt that the quality of the grass is much improved, 

 but it is feared that the rain-fall will be diminished.* 



Forests near Constantinople. 



In a paper on the Water Supply of Constantinople, read before the 

 Albany Institute, June 4, 1872, by Henry A. Homes, New York State 

 librarian — after noticing that the supplies are obtained by making dams 

 across the mouths of the upper valleys and saving the smallest rills, 

 among the ridges of the Balkan range, some 14 miles from the city, the 

 writer remarks, that the catchment basins receiving this water are of 

 only very limited extent, a very few square miles, and adds : 



The sides of the hills are all covered with forests of oak and chestnut, and also far 

 beyond the spots whence any water could flow to the reservoirs. This devoting so 

 large a space to forest wilderness within ten miles of a million of inhabitants is no 

 mystery to the people. It is the result of a custom, and a stringent law enforced for 

 1,.500 years, and not a new discovery. The edicts of the Greek Emperors wore very 

 early issued requiring the planting of trees, and forbidding any person other than the 



^,Calcutta Eeview, No. 23, 1849, in an article on "Canals of Irrigation in the North- 

 west Provinces of British India." 



« Official Becord, «&c., Melbourne (1875), p. 21. 



