214 J. H. MAIDEN. 



but from which the forests have been removed, or one 

 which was once open, but later became wooded. The 

 climate at the beginning and end of the time involved is 

 then ascertained or assumed, and the changes in the climate 

 are attributed to the change of the forest cover. The 

 uncertainties of this method are so great as to make it 

 generally useless. It is seldom possible to be sure of the 

 early forest condition of any particular country. (M. W. 

 Harrington, op. cit.) 



b. The case, " Forest Destruction Does Diminish the 

 Rainfall.''' — I think that the few authors about to be cited 

 are fairly representative of the evidence that is usually 

 adduced. There is a certain amount of vagueness in some 

 cases as to whether it is intended to state that the amount 

 of rainfall is diminished by the destruction of trees. My 

 first illustration is given because in one version or another 

 it is so often quoted in the periodical discussions that have 

 taken place in New South Wales. 



" The most fertile of all provinces in Bucharia was that of Sogd. 

 Malte Brun said, in 1826, "For eight days we may travel and 

 not be out of one delicious garden." In 1876 another writer says 

 of the same region : " Within thirty years this was one of the 

 most fertile spots of Central Asia, a country which, when well 

 wooded and watered, was a terrestrial paradise. But within the 

 last twenty-five years a mania for clearing has seized upon the 

 people, all the great forests have been cut away, and the little 

 that remained was ravaged by fire during a civil war. The con- 

 sequences followed quickly, and this country has been transformed 

 into a kind of arid desert The water-courses are dried up and 

 the irrigating canals are empty 



" It is certain that the fertility of these regions in ancient times 

 was due to stupendous irrigating devices and canals, and when 

 these were neglected, through wars and other untoward circum- 

 stances, the fertility necessarily ceased. It is certain that there 



