The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-12-16
Sugar Planters Association Work,
ing To That End.
Or. MAxwELL'S INVESTIGATIONS
Consequences of Destruction OF
Forest-Effect on Storing
Water.

The Sugar Planters. Association is
seriously considering the menace to the
water supply, especially on the other
islands, resulting from the decreasing
forests. At the annual meeting OF the
association the Forestry Committee, of
which w. NJ. Giffard is chairman, pre-
scented report on the subject in which
was included the following letter writ
ten by Dr. Maxwell to President Dole:
HON. SANFORD B. DOLE. President
of the Republic of Hawaii.
'Sir:-In compliance with the re-
quest, made personally by you previous
to my last visit to the district Of Ha-
wall, that I should record any observa-
tions made in the course Of travel upon
the present state of the forests, and
upon recent changes in forest areas,
and the apparent economic cOnseQu
ences of those changes, beg to submit
to you the following memoranda:
ct is not necessary to preface the
observations with general remarks up
on the relations of forest, rainfall and
the economic value of lands, since
these relations have been so amply set
forth by the results of exact studies
made in other countries, and are gen.
orally understood.
"The mode, however, in which forest
surfaces operate in taking moisture
from the air passing over them is not
so generally we'll known; and it is in
place to explain that while forest and
other attitudes do affect, and possibly
draw, atmospheric currents that bear
moisture, the main value of the forest
is in presenting a cool surface to the
moisture laden air passing over and
thus causing the cooled air to give UP
part of it's moisture as rain. By way of
illustration I may add that I made
some readings of the temperature of
the air, the surface soil to a depth of
six inches, and of the inside of the
trunks of trees about nine inches in
diameter, and four feet from the
ground, when I was in the Hamakua
district The air temperature was S5
degrees, the soil "a degrees, and the
temperature of the trees ~ degrees
The temperature of trees, however, de-
ponds upon their size or mass and the
smaller the tree or bush the nearer it's
temperature comes to that of the air.
This example is given in order to
guard us against the idea that any
vegetable covering with small trees,
bush, or scrub, will induce greater
precipitation, and to explain that,
whilst the bush and ground growths
conserve the moisture by preventing a
rapid discharge to the sea, it is forest,
composed of trees of great height and
bulk, which mainly affects the fall of
rain.
'In the District of Hilo it is not fully
evident that an actual decrease in the
rainfall is transpiring, but there are
ample indications that the water is not
conserved as we'll as formerly, but
washes more directly to the ocean; and
this change threatens to affect the
plantations, which depend for the flum-
ing of cane upon the steady and uni
form flow of the upper water to the
sea. However, the signal relation of
Hilo to the other districts of the island
make it a matter of the greatest mo-
ment that the conditions of rainfall in
the upper Hilo district shall not be
threatened, since if the rains in that
district should be affected, the rains
from the Hilo region moving towards
Hamakua might be reduced to moth
ing.
II moved to Kohala from the Hama
kua district over the Waimea plains,
and had opportunity to note the furth-
er depletion of remnant areas of the
original forest.
"In Kohala district the abnormal
uAOASAC VI Ills year Ids So luI6uSlIloU
the consequences of the gradual fall
ing off in the rainfall that appears to
have been going On for some time, that
care is required in order to avoid an
extreme view of the situation I have,
however, observed, and have been in
formed by the best authority. that the
forest line upon the slopes declining to
kohala town has been moved back sew
eral miles, and within period not ex-
ceeding 10 years. This destruction of
the front line of the forest, where may
be seen dismantled trees rotting on the
ground and dying bush, has been main
ly caused by mountain cattle. which
were allowed to range down to the
plantation lines. Today the lower
lands are, from want of water becom-
ing useless for grazing, and the best
pastures are upon the higher areas
which few years ago we're SO dense
and thick with forest and brush that a
bullock could hardly penetrate. These