164 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



plants ; and as the roots of trees penetrate deeper than those 

 of other plants into the soil, they draw up the moisture from 

 a greater depth, and do not therefore, in the same proportion, 

 exhaust the humidity of the surface. To these influences of 

 forests upon the humidity of a climate, we may reasonably 

 attribute the fullness of the streams in all parts of this coun- 

 try, a century ago, compared with their present diminished 

 bulk. This is a matter of common observation, sustained by 

 indubitable proofs. In the same way may we account for 

 the increasing frequency and severity of droughts, as the pop- 

 ulation has increased, and the woods are diminished. 



Mr. Balfoiir, an English botanist, remarks: "TF/zen forests 

 are destroyed, as they are everywhere in America by the Eui'O- 

 pean planters, loith an imprudent precipitation, the streams 

 are everywhere dried up, or become less abundant. In those 

 mountains of Greece which have been deprived of their for- 

 ests, the streams have disappeared. The inconsiderate felling 

 of woods, or the neglect to maintain them, has converted 

 regions noted for their fertility into scenes of barrenness. 

 The sultry atmosphere and the droughts of the Cape Verd 

 Islands are attributed to the destruction of forests. It is stated 

 that in large districts of India, climate and irrigation have 

 rapidly deteriorated from a similar cause, and that the gov- 

 ernment are* now using means to avert and remedy the mis- 

 chief. In wooded countries, where the rains are excessive, 

 as in Rio Janeiro, the climate has been improved by the de- 

 struction of trees. Gardner says that since the axe has been 

 laid on the dense forests, surrounding the city of Rio Janeiro, 

 the climate has become dry. In fact, so much has the quan- 

 tity of rain diminished, that the Brazilian government was 

 obliged to pass a law prohibiting the felling of trees in the. 

 Corcovado range." 



" Dr. Cleghorn remarks, that the conservation of forests is 

 unquestionably a subject of great importance. It is now oc- 

 cupying the attention of the government of India, and of 

 many other governments. The physical history of every 

 country proves incontestably that a moderate extent of forests^ 

 especially on mountain slopes and elevated rocky ground, 



