50 FOBEST ClJliTUEE AKD 



per cent, merely by establishing plantations of shelter- 

 trees ; that the progress of drift-sand is checked by 

 tree-plantations ; and that a belt of timber not only 

 affords protection against storms, but also converts 

 sandy wastes finally into arable meadows, thus adding 

 almost unobserved, yet unceasingly, so far to the re- 

 sources of a country. 



Shall we follow, then, the example of those improvi- 

 dent populations who, by clearing of forests, dimin- 

 ished most unduly the annual fall of rain, or pre- 

 vented its retention ; who caused a dearth of timber 

 and fuel, by which not solely the operations of their 

 artisans became already hindered or even paralyzed, 

 but through which even many a flourishing country 

 tract was already converted almost into a desert 

 Should we not rather commence to convert any desert 

 tract into a smiling country, by thinking early and 

 unselfishly of the requirements of those who are to 

 follow us ? Why not rather imitate the example set 

 by an Egyptian sovereign, who alone caused, during 

 the earlier part of this century, 20,000,000 of trees 

 to be planted in formerly rainless parts of his domin- 

 ions. 



Dr. H. Rogers, of Mauritius, issued, this year, a re- 

 port "on the effects of the cutting-dowa of forests on 

 the climate and health of Mauritius." Still, in 1854,. 

 the island was resorted to by. invalids from India as 

 the "pearl" of the Indian Ocean, it being then one 

 mass of verdure. When the forests were cleared, 

 to gain space for sugar cultivation, the rainfall dimin- 

 ished even there ; the rivers dwindled down to mud- 

 dy streams ; the water became stagnant in cracks, 

 revices, and natural hollows, while the equable tem- 



