480 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Dec., 1897. 
pine in the first block left untouched before had reached the stated diameter 
and was ready to be again thinned. Meanwhile all the young saplings were 
coming on foruse in after years, and thus the supply was perpetual. 
It is probable, although the best authorities are not agreed upon the 
subject, that to the wholesale destruction of our forests and scrubs may be 
attributed the lessened rainfall and consequent drought in many pastoral and 
farming districts. It is generally supposed that timbered districts attract more 
rain than bare plains. 
Writing of “ Forests in Relation to Climate and Rainfall,” Mr. W. Schlich, 
Principal Professor of Forestry at the Royal Indian Engineering College, 
Cooper’s Hill and late Inspector of Forestry to the Government of India, 
Says i— 
“The relation between forests and the climate and rainfall of India is of a 
very peculiar nature. On the one hand, a covering of forest vegetaticn reduces 
the temperature of the air and soil, increases the relative humidity, and tends 
to increase the rainfall ; while, on the other hand, the exceptionally high tem- 
perature which prevails in spring and early summer over the centre of the 
Indian peninsula brings about the summer monsoon rains, on which the 
welfare of India depends. In other words, extensive afforestation might 
increase the quantity of locally formed clouds and produce local rainfalls, but 
it might also weaken the force of the south-west monsoon wind and conse- 
quently the accompanying rainfall. 
“Tt is, perhaps, difficult to say what the ultimate effect of a general 
afforestation might be, but it may reasonably be assumed that the effects of 
forests, however extensive, are not likely to produce a quantity of rain which 
would make up for any weakening of the south-west monsoon. As a matter 
of fact, however, more than half the area of Madras, Bombay, the North- 
western Provinces, and Bengal is under cultivation, and a considerable addi- 
tional area has been appropriated as grazing grounds, so that not more than 
one-fourth could remain under forest-—an area which may be sufficient to 
moderate the temperature locally, but which is not likely to interfere with the 
advent of the annual south-west monsoon. The latter must for ever be the 
main source of moisture in India. 
“Apart, however, from these theoretical speculations, it has yet to be 
proved whether afforestation in low or level lands affects the rainfall at all. 
[The italics are my own.—A.J.B.] The extensive observations made of late 
years in Europe have not yet led to any final conclusions, and those carried 
out in India have not extended over a sufficient number of years to permit of 
any conclusion at all. Several stations which show a specially large increase 
(in rainfall) are either situated far from the reserves, or in their vicinity little 
forest conservancy has been effected.” 
Again, with respect to floods, the roots of the trees on the hillsides bind 
the soil together, and as a natural consequence the rains sink gently into the 
ground, being infercepted by the roots and the undergrowth. When these are 
gone, the superabundant water rushes without hindrance down the hillsides, - 
carrying off inits course the best of the soil and leaving in its wake great 
gullies which previously were only tracks. The mass of water has no time to 
permeate the soil, but makes its way straight to the creeks and rivers, which, 
swollen to an abnormal height, overtop their banks and submerge the sur- 
rounding low country, carrying ruin and desolation to many a before smiling 
home, and involving the State as well as private citizens in enormous amounts 
to make good the loss. Pe, 
Now, the first subject of inquiry which suggests itself is: What are the 
causes which operate wastefully and injuriously upon our timber supplies? 
In answer to this question, it will be found that the waste in a’ primeval 
Australian forest is apparently very great. In forests and ‘scrubs still 
untouched by the hand of man, vast quantities of large timber, including 
several varieties of hardwood, pine, cedar, and beech, may be seen strewn over 
