158 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ August 17, uss. 
bunches, which had just commenced colouring. This border is only 
18 inches deep, and has been made on the gradual system. The next 
and last vinery that I shall notice is filled with Muscats, which are 
carrying a good crop of well-set bunches. These Vines used to shank 
from the cause above alluded to, but have been lifted and their roots 
brought nearer the surface. One of the Vines of Muscat of Alexandria 
has been worked on Muscat Trov6ren, and not only grows more 
luxuriantly than the rest, but produces larger bunches and berries, 
this difference being readily observed in their present stage. Another 
is on the Madresfield Court, but the growth is rather weak, and no 
perceptible difference can be seen in the fruit either now or when 
ripe from the fruit of those on their own roots. 
Four or five houses are devoted to the cultivation of Peaches and 
Nectarines. The trees throughout are clean, healthy, and are carrying 
good crops of fruit. The young shoots are thinly trained, so as to 
admit abundance of light and air amongst the branches, which is the 
secret of having thoroughly ripened wood, plump buds, and fine 
fruit the following season, other conditions being favourable. The 
varieties principally grown are Peaches—Royal George, Barrington, 
and "V iolette Hative. Nectarines—Elruge, Victoria, Violette Hative, 
and Stanwick : the last-named cracks badly in some places, but 
shows none of its faults at St. Vincent’s. 
Melons are grown in several useful span-roofed structures, and 
Mann s Hybrid Green-flesh is seen true. It is a handsome fruit, 
round, nets well, and may be termed a small Melon. The one that 
attracted my attention most is a seedling named Sir G. Wolseley, 
and which if I remember rightly was exhibited at South Kensington 
last year. It was growing by the side of Eastnor Castle, Read’s 
Scarlet-flesh, Hero of Lockinge, William Tillery, and others, all 
having been raised and planted at the same time. The fruits of the 
last-named had commenced swelling, while the seedling would have 
its fruit fully ripe in three weeks from the time of my visit. This 
Melon is round, of small size, nets splendidly, and from all ap¬ 
pearance is a good early variety. The Melons are planted closely, 
and have about two or three fruits each on the first laterals. 
Plants are grown as well as fruit, but not on such an extensive 
scale, being principally in small pots, and of a suitable size for deco¬ 
rative purposes. Ferns are in special request, and a large house is 
filled with them as well as a rockwork fernery, with the Ferns planted 
out amongst the rocks and round small pools of water. In one of 
the plant houses I noticed a new Coleus, a sport from Magic but 
much superior to that variety. It has light yellow leaves, which 
possess a transparency which will give it an effective appearance by 
gaslight. Round the stem and at the axils of the leaves are deep 
crimson markings, which render it the more effective. 
In thanking Mr. Mann for his kindness, it is only fair to say the 
wardens were in good order, and cleanliness prevailed everywhere.— 
Visitor. 
TEE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS UPON CLIMATE. 
The following remarks upon the above subject by Dr. R. 
Scbomburgk are appended to his report of the Adelaide Botanic 
Garden and Government Plantations in South Australia for 1881. 
V hether or not forests are of importance to climate is a question 
pretty freely ventilated of late by science ; but how important they 
are in the household of Nature, and how closely connected with them 
is civilisation, I shall endeavour to prove. The green leaves and 
young branches of trees derive a great deal from the atmosphere by 
binding the carbon of the carbonic acid for the purpose of producing 
woody substance, amylon, fibre, &c. Likewise the soil gets the 
benefit by the dropping of the leaves, which, decomposing, return to 
it partially the material taken out of the ground by the roots. But 
what is equally important, the leaves also cover the surface when 
decaying with a rich layer of humus, the shadows of the trees keep 
the ground moist, so a constant decomposition takes place. Now we 
know that water is necessary for the existence of plants, for without 
water no diffusion—without diffusion, no vitality. If on one side the 
forests absorb a great deal of water out of the atmosphere, they also 
on the other side exhale humidity on a large scale. As a rule, 
humidity surrounds them, rain falls, and dew. The forests attract 
and draw down the rain clouds, which benefit themselves and like¬ 
wise the neighbouring agricultural land. We therefore, as a conse¬ 
quence, always find good agricultural land near forests. Without 
doubt we are all acquainted of the fact that plants are not only 
nourished by their roots but also by their leaves, which are the 
lungs, and by their inhaling and exhaling purify the air in a great 
measure. It is perfectly understood that dew is nothing else but a 
deposit of mist or vapour on the surface of the earth, which can only 
be generated by having been exhaled or evaporated from the surface 
of the earth : but the dry sand and naked rock cannot exhale any 
humidity, therefore dew very seldom falls on them, and only in con¬ 
sequence of attraction by a neighbouring forest. The forest itself, 
presenting a very large surface for evaporation, returns the loss of 
the soil in the shape of a refreshing dew, which falls on it in abun¬ 
dance. If we find that very little dew falls on the soil of a very 
dense forest, the reason is the rays of the sun cannot penetrate deep 
enough and convey heat thither, consequently very little evaporation 
can take place and produce radiation of heat. 
It is perfectly well known that most of the rivers spring from 
wooded mountains. The forests conserve the water of a country, 
and thus nourish the rivers and springs. In a desert the rivers gene¬ 
rally dry up. All those magnificent and powerful rivers of North 
America spring from primitive mountainous forests; but I doubt if they 
will continue to discharge the same quantities of w r ater into the sea 
in the future, when their mother forests are gone. We already hear 
that the Mississippi is getting perceptibly lower since the last decen- 
nium. We also know that when during the winter, when snow and 
ice melt, great bodies of water suddenly gather in the mountains, and 
come rushing down with disastrous effect. But even here w r e per¬ 
ceive a great difference in the manner the waters are drained off. 
For instance, if such a stream springs from a dense forest a great 
deal of ice, snow, and water; are retained by the layer of humus 
acting like a sponge, and consequently the water is drained off gently 
and with much less danger. But when once the forests of a country 
are gone there is nothing to check the wild impulse of the waters, 
and very destructive inundations take place. With reference to this 
I wish to point out, as one instance only, the fearful inundations 
caused every year by the Rhone in France. 
No doubt some countries at the present time bearing the character 
of a hopeless desert were always so—for instance, the Sahara ; but 
other countries now in a similar plight were formerly in a different 
condition. All those vast and almost endless savannahs or plains 
and prairies of Australand, South Asia, were once heavily timbered ; 
Diodorus of Sicily, at least, mentions the existence of immense forests 
destroyed by fire. According to Caesar and other Latin authors, 
Germany was covered with immense forests ; and according to Hero¬ 
dotus and Thucydides the same was the same with Greece, Italy, 
Spain, Fiance, and England. If we believe in the testimony of 
Diodorus, the forests of Spain were devastated to a large extent. 
We know that this country, when subjugated by the Romans, was 
covered with large forests, especially its southern provinces ; but at 
the present time only her coast retains the forests, and the interior 
presents the aspect of a vast plain covered with Heath, Lavender, 
and Rosemary. The forests of the Peloponnesus were burnt down 
by Ali Pashi, and in consequence there came famine and drought. 
Likewise a Russian general, in modern times, rendered his name 
infamous for ever by burning and destroying wholesale the forests of 
the Caucasus for the purpose of routing out and starving the brave 
Tshei kessians. The name of the man is Dibitsch Balkansky. Since 
the destruction of these forests the climate has entirely changed ; the 
country has become barren, droughts and famine set in. In the 
islands of Mauritius, Jamaica, and the Azores, in the two former, for 
the purpose of extending the sugar cultivation, where the forests 
have been cut down, so that some parts of these islands are now 
totally denuded of trees, the results are felt most alarmingly. The 
rain has become less every year; springs and rivulets which before 
flowed uninterruptedly have now ceased to flow. The respective 
governments of those islands, convinced of the injury done to the 
country, have taken steps to replant the forests ; especially in Mau¬ 
ritius the replanting has begun in full earnest, and our Gum trees 
are partly used for the purpose. 
If anyone still feels inclined to doubt the influence of forests on 
the climate of a country I beg to give several instances of modern 
times. The Delta of Egypt, well known for its dry climate after the 
destruction of its forests, Olive, and other plantations, had about six 
rainy days every year on an average ; but since so many millions of 
useful trees have again been planted the rainy days have increased 
to forty days annually. It is also mentioned that the Viceroy, 
Mehemet Ali, had planted on the Delta twenty millions of trees. 
These results are confirmed by renowned travellers in Egypt, but 
especially by Mons. Pouchet. Many millions of trees have been 
planted in the barren and swampy districts of France, also thousands 
of acres of the desert of Algiers have been transformed into forests 
with trees suitable to the climate, and with surprising results. By 
the last accounts these plantations, especially of the Australian 
species, have already reached the height of 30 to 40 feet, and with 
their rapid growth a great change of the climate is observable, and 
twice more rain and dew has fallen in the neighbourhood of these 
forests than before. More than sixteen geographical square miles of 
the swampy and unhealthy country along the coast of the Bay of 
Biscay, in the Department of Lands, where swamp fever prevailed, 
have been planted with millions of trees, especially the Cork Oak and 
Swamp Pine (Pinus maritimus), with a surprising beneficial result. 
Not alone that the trees have drained the land, but have changed it 
into a healthy country with fine forests. 
In 1856 Messrs. Bequerel (father and son) in France published a 
series of observations on the importance of forests on climate, and 
the great influence they have in regard to rain and temperature, and 
showed at the same time the injurious effects on the climate by cut¬ 
ting down the forests. In consequence, to test those observations, 
the French Government ordered a series of meteorological observa¬ 
tions in the neighbourhood of forests and also in plains denuded of 
trees to be made by the Forest Academy at Nancy. These observa¬ 
tions were read some time ago before the Academy of Science at 
Paris, and the result showed that during the time the investigations 
had been made one-quarter more rain fell annually in the neighbour¬ 
hood of forests than in plains denuded of trees. It is further stated, 
in regard to the temperature near forests, “ The forest effects the 
same equal temperature as the sea does along the coast, and that a 
great contrast in this respect was found in the temperature of plains.” 
Since Messrs. Bequerel’s, most important observations have been 
