1 Juyez, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 485 
Napoleon IIT., in the earlier part of his reign, advocated the planting of 
trees, and the Government planted a part of the Gascon ‘“ Landes,” towards 
Arcachon, and a good deal of the Sologne, with firs. Napoleon had, however, 
many who disbelieved in the effects of forests on climate or in forest conservancy 
to contend with, and prominent amongst them was M. Fould, the Imperial 
financier. Napoleon’s Governments, as we know, were expensive ones; the 
reyenues always showed a deficit, and all kinds of expedients were resorted to 
to raise funds without increasing the taxation. One day in 1865, when the 
Emperor and his Minister were conversing upon money matters, Fould asked— 
“Why not sell the Crown forests ? ” 
“Because, if we do, the buyers will cut most of them down; and then what 
are we to do for wood?” replied Napoleon. 
* Burn coal ; having a long bill with England will strengthen the entente 
cordiale,” was the Imperial financier’s answer; and to try if possible to get 
Napoleon to sanction such a transaction, he actually got one of the many venal 
savants, of what is now known as the Second Empire, to write a book, in which 
it was proved that forests had no appreciable effect upon climate. The savant, 
however, had some conscience, and was obliged to confess that the cutting down 
of the trees did cause that ravinement—i.e., sweeping away of earth and 
seaming the hill sides with channels —from which so many communes (districts) 
in the south of France (and not there only) have suffered, but he stoutly 
denied that forests had any effect in increasing or regulating the rainfall. 
Public opinion was too strong for the scheming financier, and his end was not 
gained. Since then schools of forestry have been formed in France, where 
series after series of conclusive experiments have been made, and the reports of 
the directors of those schools and of the inspectors of forests all bear testimony 
to the important effect that forests have on climate. 
From these reports let me tell you something of the use of forests in their 
effect on climates, Forests have a fourfold effect on climate and rainfall, as 
follows :— . 
Firstly —There is the chemical action of their leaves which decompose 
the carbonic acid of the air, fixing the carbon in their woody tissue, 
and liberating the oxygen. : 
Secondly.—There is their physical action in hindering abe ration and 
stopping currents of air, and in covering the ground with a vegetable 
mould which holds water like a sponge. d ; 
Thirdly —There is the organic action of the leaves which, in breathing, 
restore to the air a part of the water which the roots have drained 
from the soil. ! 
Fourthly, and lastly —There is the mechanical action of the roots, which 
at once prevent the earth from being washed away by rain, and also 
enable the water to filter down deep into the oround, 
From these four actions we can see that forests ought to make a country 
cooler, by withdrawing the carbon from the air; for the heat that is set free 
when wood or timber is burned is the very heat that was being absorbed while 
the tree was growing. A forest may thus be looked upon as one vast con- 
densing apparatus for storing up the heat of the atmosphere. This is what 
theory says—and experiment confirms it. 
The mean temperature of a well-timbered country is always lower than 
that of a similarly situated treeless country ; but-—and this is a most important 
matter—the cold is less extreme, as well as the heat, and changes of temperature 
are gradual.* Of course, since rain comes because the air is too cold to hold 
its moisture any longer in solution, there ought to be more rain in a wooded 
than in a treeléss district. So there is, and in France this has been found to 
vary from 6 to 8 per cent. Bare soil soon gets heated, and it heats the 
parses es ee Rae 
* This is the cause of the extremely cold weather of the past few years in many parts of 
Queensland—viz., the total destruction of our forests and scrubs for agricultural purposes.— 
JW, 
