216 APPEITDIX. 



to say on the subject. " Arboriculture, or tbe cultivation of 

 trees and slirubs, is one of tbe most interesting and important of 

 the rural arts. It is a branch of industry which is daily becom- 

 ing a subject of great national importance, not only as regards 

 Britain, but also her Colonies and Indian Empire. Science has 

 proved that the cultivation of trees and shrubs exercises a most 

 benign influence on the climate, and on the health and death-rate 

 of a country, as well as on its prosperity. Hence more attention 

 is now being paid to the better conservation and management of 

 forests, both at home and abroad. While agriculturists are 

 continually carrying on a warfare of extermination with the 

 straggling hedgerows of scattered trees that are yet common in 

 many of the finest cultivated districts, they are fully alive to the 

 importance of the shelter derived from trees when properly 

 arranged on the exposed parts of their fields, or around their 

 homesteads ; whilst the profusion of trees and shrubs cultivated 

 around suburban and villa residences, as well as in town squares 

 and public parks, clearly shows how much agriculture is an 

 object of delight and pleasure to the people. ***** 



At no former period has the demand been so great as during 

 the present century. Within that period the landscape of Grreat 

 Britain has undergone a complete change, and many of her bleak 

 and barren hills and waste lands are now covered by thriving 

 plantations. Thus the adjoining lands have become more fertile 

 and valuable, and the food production of the country has thereby 

 greatly increased." 



In Messrs. Chambers's Journal, part 153, Sept. 30th, 1876, will 

 be found an essay " On the use of Forests," which may be cited as 

 bearing direct testimony to the truth of the views maintained by 

 myself. The author points out four distinct effects of forest 

 vegetation on climate and rainfall, and shows how theory and 

 experiment agree. The facts and reasoning employed in this 

 paper M'ould have been quoted in the text if they had fallen 

 under my notice before it had been committed to the press. 



No. 3 {p. 12).— Water from Plants. 



"We have the testimony of the late Commodore Goodenough 

 to a similar fact in Pigi. He says in his Journal (Dec. 10, 1873): 

 " "Walked up to the top of Ovalu. * * * It is not much 

 over 2,000 feet, but very steep and rugged ; in some places 

 a climb hands and feet up the face of a rock. The foliage is 

 beautiful as always. In one place a sort of strong creeper grows 

 as thick as my wrist ; one cuts oft a foot of it, and on squeezing it 

 out come several good mouthfuls of pure, clear water. At another 

 place a lot of tall leaves collect water and carry it down the 

 juicy stem of a tree which is, to look at, like a banana. One 

 pierces the stem at the junction of the stalk of the big leaf, and 



