18 FOREST TREES. 
The effect of forests upon the total amount of rain- 
fall is a question upon which writers are not agreed, 
some denying their influence altogether. The 
increased amount of rain in Lower Egypt, since the 
formation of extensive plantations of trees by the 
rulers of that country, is often cited as a proof that 
the presence of forests increases the fall of rain. It 
is said that during the year 1869, there were fourteen 
rainy days at the Isthmus of Suez, where the rain 
had before been rarely, if ever, known. This was 
ascribed to the influence of recent forest plantations 
in the vicinity. Both theory and weight of evidence 
seem strongly to favor the position that more rain 
falls in wooded than in open countries. Be this as 
it may, it is certain that a more uniform degree of 
moisture in the atmosphere exists in and around 
forests than in cleared lands. Equally certain is it 
that, by promoting the frequency of showers, they 
equalize the distribution of the rain-fall through the 
different seasons, thus rendering the extremes of wet 
weather and drought of less frequent occurrence. 
It is asserted by the inhabitants of the eastern 
parts of Kansas and Nebraska, that the rain-fall is 
more equally distributed through the seasons, and has 
increased in quantity since the settlement of the 
country. A similar change is noticed in the neighbor- 
hood of Denver, where the flow of small streams is 
more permanent. The waters of the Great Salt Lake, 
which twenty years ago appeated to be retroceding, 
have, it is said, risen seven feet since the Mormons 
established themselves in the valley. The exclusion 
