The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-11

II
E,7;ior of The Cincinnati Commercial:
Your article in Thursdays issue upon
Tho effect of trees on climates comedies
with the result of investigations made by
me, extending through several years. Inc
subject is Of the utmost Importance; anu
with view to call the attention OF 1ayners
and landed proprietors to 1t send you
! some of the data have collected. Rev. LIT.
! Burt says: =,
"Groves of PALM acacia, and tamarack
trees are seen in every part OF Egypt
Inner and Lower. Whether these were
nIanted Ut the instance of Mohammed All
or NOT cannot say but I should suppose
that palm groves had existed from time I'M
memorial. ., ...-.r -.
at is n fact that heavy rains are not
| nnfrcnucnt in winter on the Delta as far up
90 Cairo It showered in Cairo while l was
there and I learned from friends that
few davs after we started up the Nile from
there the city was fairly flooded with rain
at is pretty we'll ascertained that rams
in Palestine were formerly more abundant
than they are now, and the difference is
naturally ascribed to the known removal OF
| ancient forests"
Bedford PIN, Captain K. N, 1866, says
uThere is curious proof OF the theory
of the influence of vegetation on the RAIN
fall. In August, 1871, when the emancl-
patton of the negroes of Corn Island, Mos
quito coast, took place, the entire SOIL OF the
island was planted with cotton, with
scarcely tree to be seen. At that time the
rainy season did not last over three months,
while Mt the present moment, all cultlva-
tion having ceased, and dense vegetation
having taken the place of the cotton plan
totions. it is rare to find even single
month mass without rain, and the annual
rainfall has increased 100 per cent"
J.H. Bcadle, writing from Utah in 1868,
says: ~, u,o
At the first settlement of Utah there
| were often periods Of five or Six months
| without rain, but of late years there has
been great change in that respect, and
last summer rains were 80 frequent along
the Jordan. that most of that region re-
oujred no irrigation at all. suppose this
is due TO the same cause as the similar phe-
nomenon in Nebraska, that Is, planting
orchards and breaking up the ground. But
the change has been much greater here than
there, and this for many reasons. they
have no grass here as you have, and the
distributing the water so generally over the
land in bitches and fields has presented
much larger solar evaporation, the great
right hand of 'cloud-compelling Jove.'
These causes have increased the fall of rain,
which must in turn add to the productive
fuel of nature, till in time, perhaps, lrrlga-
ton will be needless"
The San Francisco Bulletin, 1863, says
"a sugar planter at the Hawaiian Islands,
in 1860, having Il large quantity OF lana
and no streams of water within reach, set
his wits to work to bring the moisture from
the mountains down to his plantation. For
this purpose he planted fifty thousand
fol est trees, which, under his care grew
rapidly. Soon the clouds hung on the new
forest, and the rain came down abundantly.
He has now a very hourishing sugar planta-
ton: but he has made it out of dry plain,
which, without water, would be OF very
little value. 1t is the most economical lrrl-
CATION which has yet been brought forward.
There are no better hydraulic pipes than
groups Of forest trees.
"Thc Viceroy Mohammed Ali caused
twenty millions Of trees to be planted in the
Delta. These have now attained their full
size, and the number Of rainy days are in
creased to forty annually. Such is the in
fiuence which man can exert over nature in
the matter of varying meteorological condi-
TONS
For thirty years I have been planting
trees, and would recommend to every land
owner to plant fruit trees and forest trees
of rapid growth-such as the black locust,
mulberry, poplar, and walnut-on every
uncultivated spot, and particularly on every
hillside too steep for cultivation. They
will prove good investment. They cannot
injure our climate, and may improve it. +.