14 , TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 
cause was ascribed to the planting of large plantations 
of trees. In Kansas and Nebraska the rains are much 
more evenly distributed through the seasons than they 
used to be, and this is undoubtedly due to the stirring 
of the soil and the planting of trees. A similar change 
has been noticed in Colorado, where the flow of small 
streams, it is said, is becoming stronger and more per- 
manent. The waters of the Great Salt Lake, which 
some years ago seemed to be receding, have again risen, 
and are every year increasing, as the Mormons open up 
farms and plant orchards in the Salt Lake valley. 
The effect of forests on a country may be set down as 
follows: First, great humidity of the atmosphere. Sec- 
ond, more rapid evaporation. Third, greater regularity 
of rainfall. Fourth, diminished force of the prevailing 
winds. In no country has the effect of settlement on 
the climate been more apparent than in Australia. Keep- 
ing sheep there is in many places no longer as profitable 
as it used to be; but, on the other hand, large tracts of 
land that were worthless before have latterly become fit 
for agriculture. There has been a decided increase of 
forests and a consequent increase of moisture in many 
parts, giving hopes that eventually the whole interior 
desert may be reclaimed. The direct effect of sheep- 
raising has been to keep down the long grass which for- 
merly afforded material for destructive fires. The trees, 
young and old, had been periodically burned by these 
fires, until the country, becoming almost treeless, its cli- 
mate had been rendered arid and its soil sterile. If the 
climate in Australia can be changed and rains made to 
fall by the growing of timber, why not our own coun- 
try? And why may not our plains, in time, become 
well-watered regions and good farming countries? 
Incredible as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that 
forests are still felled and burned for the purpose of 
bringing the land they stand upon under cultivation. 
From 1860 to 1870 no less than twelve million acres of 
