100 EFFECTS OP FORESTS ON MOISTURE 



tabulation of the rain-fall, to the end of 1870, for the Smithsonian 

 stations, and to the end of 1871 for the United States military posts, 



** Beside the discussion of the observations on temperature, rain, 

 and wind, there remain those relative to the pressure of the atmos- 

 phere, and its humidity ; also those which are classed under the head 

 of casual phenomena, such as thunder-storms, tornadoes, auroras, 

 meteors, early and late frosts, progress of vegetation, opening and 

 closing of rivers, &c. These will be put in hand as soon as the funds 

 of the Institution which can be devoted to meteorology will permit 

 the requisite expenditure." 



From this statement some idea may be formed of the magnitude of 

 the work, of the extent of the resources provided for the prosecution 

 of it, and of the energy with which it was being carried out. 



The documents by Dr Hough, referred to, were published in two 

 large volumes, the first entitled '' Eesults of a Series of Meteorological 

 Observations, made in obedience to instructions from Regents of the 

 University of the State of New York, from 1826 to 1850 inclusive," 

 and the second entitled " Second Series of Meteorological Observa- 

 tions, embracing Observations from 1850 to 1863, with Records of 

 Rainfall, and other Phenomena, to 1867 inclusive." 



In 1872 were published " Tables and Results of the Precipitation 

 in Rain and Snow in the United States, and at some Stations in 

 Adjacent Parts of North America, and in Central and South 

 America," collected by the Institution, and discussed under the 

 direction of Professor Henry by Mr Charles A. Schott. And, in an 

 examination of these, I fail to discover any intimation of any change 

 in the quantities of rain falling having followed the clearing of any 

 district from which observations w^ere collected, and the stations were 

 790 in number. 



Simultaneously with the collecting of these observations by the 

 agents of the Smithsonian Institution, special attention was being 

 given by Mr Draper, Director of the Meteorological Observatory in 

 the Central Park of New York, to the alleged effects of forests and of 

 the destruction of these on the rain-fall. And in his report to the 

 Board of Commissioners of the Department of Public Parks for the 

 same year, 1871, he makes the following statement, in reply to the 

 question. Does the clearing of land increase or diminish the fall of 

 rain : — 



" Much solicitude is publicly felt as regards the supposed di- 

 minished quantity of water which fell last year, a point of the 

 highest concern. There is a general impression that this alleged 



