]vi 



counties of England. Tha troable with 

 us is that our rainfall is not used 

 economically. We have a fall of rain 

 falling mostly on hardened exposed 

 surfaces, the bulk @i it flows immedia ely 

 off into the creehs, down the rivers, to 

 the sea. If we have a very heavy down- 

 pour the flaw off is 80 great the craeks 

 BW«sll, and that which would be a 

 blessing and a godsend for months 

 to come, could it be retained, 

 bursts over the banks cf our rivers 

 destrojing crops, stock, and buildings, 

 rushes away from the land where.it 

 would have done good to mingle with 

 the sea where it is not wanted. Ihen, as 

 usual, the sua comes out, what water has 

 not flown off rapidly becomes evaporated. 

 Litile or none soaks into the subsoil. 

 The farmer a few weeks after ii raising 

 his voice that his creek has little water 

 for his stock, and less for his crop. No, 

 the principal reform we require on cur 

 laiid 18 to prevent this prodigal waste of 

 nature's gifts; to naturally so protect tha 

 surface from excessive evapoiation, and 

 80 retaia the water in the spongy suil, 

 roots, and detritus that the water which 

 at present is sent into the sea and the air 

 wivh the quickobt possible despaich may 

 be retained and retsiltd to us in a slow 

 constant supply exlending over months. 

 How 18 it that in Europe, where the 

 rainfall is no g:eater than with us, they 

 have their brooks and streams csrrying 

 almost the same water all the year round, 

 while in Tasmania we have only creeks 

 that are three parts dry eleven months 

 ontoftheyear ? Itis simplj the differetce 

 in the natural resorvoirs. Thei© tney have 

 their woodlands w.th deuse canopies of 

 foliage through wnich the sun's rays 

 cannot penetiate, into which the rain 

 pours aud is stored up as in a sp ;nfie ; 

 while here we have eur light foliaged 

 trees that give so little bhade that the 

 water gets out almost as freely as it 

 gets in. 



This is the main plea for forest culture 

 in Tasmania. If small but natural 

 water conserving areas were planted with 

 trees whose foliage was suitable for soil 

 protection, fcuch arets would scon more 

 tban pay fox ihtmselves by the regula- 

 tion if the water tLat wtold flow cut 

 inm ihem. In a little time the tdvan- 



tage would be so apparent that forest 

 plaoticg would be undertaken as a matter 

 of course, without longer requiring the 

 stimulating and direct effort that G-o- 

 vernment would have to put forward at 

 the outset. This is no imaginary picture, 

 this is the experience that has bren 

 dearly purchased by many in the 

 Northern Hemispherf. I could give 

 you masses of instances from the 

 bulletins of the United States, all 

 pointing tha same way ; loss of water 

 from forest denudation and the necessity 

 of replanting I do not think you would 

 hav* to go beyond any settled district 

 in Tasmania for proofs. Indeed, I think 

 a study of Mount Wellington an ample 

 objact lesson. Time does not permit me 

 to dip into this part of the subject, as 

 it deserves, more especially as I wish to 

 refer to the ii-flaeace of forests on 

 climate. I am aware that the larger as- 

 pect of this does not come within our 

 scope of practical enquiry. That forest 

 protection and cultivation will have to 

 come about for lesser reasons, and the 

 larger result will be a fortunate 

 corollary. The immediate plantation of 

 huge forests for th« purpose of modifying 

 our climate would be rather Utopian, 

 Bu*; wa may be allowed to think of 

 it. Withiu the scDpe of influence on 

 climate are included two sets of 

 phenomena, the general and the local. 

 General climate is mostly cosmic. That 

 is, the atmospheric dispositions are due 

 to causes in no way referable to the in- 

 flueoca on the immediata locality affected. 

 But the question that interests us and 

 has exercised the minds of many both 

 now and in the past is, Are not these 

 atmospheric conditions somewhat modi- 

 fied by the character of the area over 

 which they spread ? 



The temperature of a forest and its 

 immediate looaliij is, except in very cold 

 Weather, lower than ihat of open country, 

 also except in damp weather the air in 

 about or above forests carries a greater 

 percentage of moisture. From this it is 

 easily coLceivable that condensation with 

 ram will occur over a country pretty 

 well woodtd with true forests, while on 

 the other band expansion with no deposit 

 of moisture will take place over open and 

 therefore hot, diy place?. Ihat is to 



