51 



The result will be that our autumn weather will reach further into winter, until at last 

 we shall have no winter worthy of the name. On the California side of the mountains 

 the eflfect will be much the same. The hot weather of the valleys will extend over the 

 foot-hills and gradually reach up into the mountains." 



The desolation of mountain regions by the clearing of forests and by pasturage of 

 flocks is also strikingly illustrated in the Pyrenees. This region in the last century was 

 almost entirely out of account in the agricultural and commercial reports of France. The 

 slopes were timbered with forests of great extent, which, from wants of markets and ways 

 for transportation, remained unproductive and to some extent unknown. On the top, 

 where forest vegetation ceased, sufficient herbage was found for the pasturage of flocks in 

 summer. The plains were poorly cultivated and inundations were much less frequent and 

 less destructive than now-a-days. As roads came to be opened the profit from sheep and 

 cattle became greater, and the clearing of forests was begun to make room for pasturage, 

 and to some extent for timber, until by degrees the slopes of the mountains were denuded, 

 and the rains having nothing to hinder began to form eroding torrents, the south slopes 

 suflfering most because first cleared and directly exposed to the sun's heat. The extremes 

 of flood and drought became excessive, and extensive tracts have been ruined for present 

 occupation from this source. 



The Island of St. Helena, the well-known scene of Napoleon's banishment, furnishes 

 a remarkable illustration of the connection that exists between forests and rainfall. When 

 iSrst discovered in 1502 it had heavy forests. The introduction of goats and other causes 

 destroyed these woodlands until the island was almost denuded. The consequences were 

 that in the records of the last century we find accounts of repeated and almost periodical 

 visitations of very severe drought, occasioning various losses to cattle and crop efibrts. 

 Toward the end of the last century, however, the governor saw the need of strenuous efforts, 

 gardeners were sent for, and trees from all parts of the world were planted, without 

 regard to their character. The "Pinas Pinaster" was sown very extensively, and several 

 plantations of this still exist. The consequences of this were discovered a few years since 

 as follows : — "For many years past, since the general growth of our trees, we have been 

 preserved from the scourge, and droughts such as were formerly recorded are now 

 altogether urtknown. We have no means, however, of otherwise comparing the rainfall 

 of the two periods, as no tables or even estimates of the rainfall can be had for the 

 earlier dates. Our fall of rain now is equal to that of England, and is spread almost 

 evenly over the year. The showers fall more heavily in two or three months of the year. 

 But this period, though called on this account the rainy season, is in no way to be com- 

 pared to what is understood by an inter-tropical rainy season." 



The Island of Ascension furnishes another remarkable instance. This island, some 

 seven and a-half miles long and six wide, was entirely barren when first occupied in 1815, 

 and so destitute of water that supplies were brought from England and the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Means have since been taken to plant trees and introduce agriculture on the 

 island, though not to any great extent, the effect has been most remarkable. The island 

 grows forty kinds of trees, where but one tree grew in 1843, owing to want' of water. The 

 water supply is excellent, and the garrison and ships visiting the island are supplied in 

 abundance with vegetables of various kinds. 



