THE RECKLESS DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS.

[TO TDB EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

your last issue of August 11, a letter from Major- General Shaw draws attention to a subject of considerable interest in its connection with vegetation in India. A quotation from Sir William Denison's " Varieties of Viceregal Life" is given, 'relative to " the action of forests upon the rainfall." It is further .suggested by General Shaw, that in the place of old forests which have been destroyed, " a beginning might be made in the direc- tion of planting. The Australian blue-gum tree (Eucalyptus ,globosus) is asserted to be the fastest-growing tree in the world. It attains the height of from sixty to seventy feet in about four- teen years, drains malarious marshes in and about which it is .planted, and both by leaf-evaporation and by attraction of mois- ture moderates both heat and drought, and its timber is of a useful quality." General Shaw further suggests that "there are, aio doubt, many of the more temperate parts of India where it might be beneficially cultivated without difficulty."

At the station of Ootacamund, on the Neilgherries, where Sir W. Denison introduced this tree, it has become as common as the 'elm in England, though far less beautiful. There aro also large plantations of eucalyptus on the Neilgherries, some on the sites 'of old forests, where they have been planted in order to supply the rapidly-increasing demand for fuel caused by the tendency to make the Hill stations on the Neilgherries sanitariums, and 'favourite resorts for travellers and residents in India.

Our Forest Department is fully alive to the great importance of !preserving the old forests of India, but as regards the eucalyptus, the following extract from one whose practical experience is second to few who, like him, have passed their life-time in India will be useful. Referring to General Shaw's remarks about the eucalyptus, it is remarked that,—

" Tts value in India or other countries consists in the rapidity of its growth, in climates suitable to it, and to the febrifuge qualities of the leaves of some varieties ; therefore it should be planted freely in the swamps of the Vi'ynaml, and such other feverish regions the tempera- ture of which admits of its free growth. It grows so rapidly whore it will grow at all, that it will he more useful than most other trees in absorbing and utilising the superfluous moisture of swamps, thus rendering them lees unhealthy. Hence the cultivation of the Eucalyptus in the swamps of Italy and of Algeria, whore also its loaves afford a specific against the prevalent miasmatic fevers. But it is the rapidity with which it attains to a great size that renders it so valuable an agent in swamp-drainage over other trees. In the plains of India generally none of the varieties flourish, unfortunately, otherwise the forest officers would long are this time have utilised the eucalyptus in the formation ,of fuel reserves, in such districts as Bollary, Cuddapab, North Arcot, 44., whore the supply of the railways with cheap fuel is a great deside- ratum. The effect of tree-planting in producing rainfall-is a disputed point. But it is certain that the action of trees in retaining rain that has fallen is most useful. They intercept it in passing to and through the earth, and keep it from making away rapidly and producing floods. yence the impropriety of allowing the high forests of the country to be indiscriminately denuded of wood by planters, and the propriety of replanting those lower regions which have already become treeless.

Butit is useless attempting to grow eucalypti in any brit a temperate 'climate."

The " diTute " connected with the action of the rainfall upon

forests and their reaction is full of interest, and one in which the public as well as individuals must wish for information from men of science whose knowledge can entitle them to express an opinion. Their opinion, formed after carefully weighing all available ex- perience on the subject, would be invaluable. It would in itself be very interesting and useful in guarding and perhaps restrain- ing the planter, and in enabling him to avoid any opposition to Government in its dealings with industries which, as at present pursued, are too often guided by a view to the most rapid return for any outlay of capital.

A full answer to and discussion of the following questions would be interesting to many, and possibly influence industry in a direction as beneficial to the interests of the country as of the planter:-

1. Can any explanation be given and has any certainty been arrived at as to the action of forests upon the rainfall in India?

2. Can trees, shrubs, and any other sort of vegetation, includ- ing even mosses, be made useful in preserving and forming natural reservoirs for water ? Such a purpose would, indeed, add greatly to the charm which belongs to the beautiful vegetation and the gradual zig-zags in the fall of every mountain rill an stream.

8. What is the vegetation most useful in husbanding all available damp and moisture ? 4. How can such vegetation be disposed and adapted so that the water it contains may be carried without waste to the plains, and there connected with every possible system of irrigation ?

In the Madras Presidency a population of more than thirty millions depend for existence upon the water-supply of the country.

The grand antiquity and wonderful magnificence of Indian

forests should indeed be untouched by temporary traders and planters, wherever their industries can affect the rainfall or water-

flow to the plains below. As it is, the south-eastern slopes of the Neilgherries are far less richly wooded than the Western Ghauts, and the inhabitants of the plains show far less sign of being well fed and strong than upon the western side in Malabar.

The appearance of strength and health in the natives of Mala- bar is remarkable. The damp heat of their climate is trying to Europeans, but the connection of the Malabar coast with the beautiful Blue Hills is one magnificent tract of forest. The cocoa nuts of these plains seem unfailing, and the sea-coast gives a constant supply of fish. These products alone prevent starva- tion, and though the more unguarded and stormy Coromandel coast has hitherto made any fish supply uncertain, the Madras Harbour,

now being constructed, may, among other benefits, protect the fishermen in all seasons, and promote a steady supply of fish in Madras and its neighbourhood.

The present terrible famine is a crushing calamity to Southern India. To thousands who realise its extent, the evening psalms of Sunday last, especially the sixty-fifth psalm, must have appealed with the most tantalising eloquence, and in the sharpest contrast to the desolation of drought and famine. "Thou vieitest the earth and waterest it : thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest tho ridges," &c. (Psalm lxv. 9-13.) Those very psalms, like the Hindoo " Vedas," belong to an era when the working of Nature's laws was watched for by prophet and psalmist and people with an almost super- stitious submission.

Much of humble reverence characterises the records of that age. The ruins and indications of its earlier civilisation in India speak of the jealousy with which the connection between the Creator

and his works was guarded. Those who have seen the old tanks of Southern India, the ghauts or grand flights of marble stairs down to

the rivers in Northern India, the more modern cisterns of ancient Rome in Southern Europe, and the marble fountains belonging to the marquees and public places of Mussulman countries, are tempted to ask whether the habits of Englishmen born and bred in a land of frost and cold, of mist and rain, have been suffi- ciently trained to adapt their wonderful powers of colonisation to the wants of a climate where water is so precious that it had become an object of worship. The temporary, too often selfish interests which guide Englishmen in their work in India, may account for the tendency which on the slopes of the Neilgherries has converted slopes of forest land into tea and coffee plantations. The old trees are perhaps gradually re- venging themselves, by the lack of rain and water which has followed the destruction of ancient forests, which, being the growth of centuries, were probably of the first importance to the requirements of the country.

Whatever may be our interests in British India, we may try

as individuals to prove our disinterested patriotism by using the scientific knowledge we possess as a power to promote every effort for the permanent rather than the temporary good of the country, and in the restraint which this may impose upon parti- cular industries. We may be called upon to make sacrifices for an object worthy of a Christian people, but sacrifices which will probably be temporary, for in the increased richness of the soil there must be increased openings for science as well as industry, and probably capital will find a more permanent and safe, as well as profitable investment, when employed exclusively upon schemes that are suited to the climates and requirements of India.—I am, Sir, &c.,