INFLUENCE OF TREES ON CLIMATE. 43 
of streams. The question of replanting has frequently 
been agitated, but the dried condition of the earth in 
many places in southern Russia makes it a matter of 
great difficulty. 
A striking illustration of the results which have fol- 
lowed the denuding of a country of its forest trees, and 
a result which has been brought about within the short 
period of thirty years, is afforded by the Khanate of Bok- 
hara, in Asia, a country situated between 35° and 45° 
north latitude, and 60° and 70° longitude east from Lon- 
don. Thirty years ago the Khanate was one of the most 
fertile provinces of central Asia, well wooded and wa- 
tered, and was considered an earthly paradise. Twenty- 
five years ago a mania for forest-clearing broke out and 
continued until the timber had nearly all been destroyed. 
What trees were spared by rulers and people were after- 
wards destroyed in course of a civil war. The conse- 
quence of this ruthless destruction of forest growth is 
now painfully manifest in immense dry and arid wastes, 
and the watercourses have become dry and useless chan- 
nels. To ascertain by scientific observations the influ- 
ence of forests on the annual rainfall, moisture of the air 
and ground, and on the climate generally, the Bavarian 
government established in different parts of the kingdom 
seven stations, at each of which daily observations were 
made at two different points, one situated in the middle 
of a large open field, the other in the middle of a large 
forest. These observations, according to Dr. Ebermeyer’s 
report, agree with the observations and opinions given 
by Humboldt, De Saussure, Herschel, and other scientists 
in regard to the great influence of forests on the climate, 
relative moisture, fertility, and healthfulness of a coun- 
try, and are confirmed by the present physical condition 
of the Mediterranean shores, which, since the Alps, Apen- 
nines, and Pyrenees were deprived of their forests, have 
lost the verdure and fertility so glowingly described by 
ancient geographers and historians. Rivers famous in 
