Abstract
THERE are several questions regarding the mutual relations of natural phenomena that appear at first sight so simple that the obvious answers may be received for generations as too clear to require reconsideration. One of these is the influence of forests on rainfall. It seems so natural that if a large area of bare ground is planted with trees which grow into a forest the moisture of the district will be increased by increasing rainfall, diminishing run-off, and, in hot countries, falling temperature, that one scarcely stops to inquire on what evidence the belief is based. Everyone must remember the vivid picture drawn in Marsh's “Man and Nature” of the desolation wrought in Palestine and other Mediterranean lands by desiccation consequent on the destruction of forests and abandonment of cultivation. But in that work, as in most of the writings on this and cognate questions, the motto of the discussion might be post hoc, ergo pro pter hoc.
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MILL, H. Forests and Rainfall . Nature 99, 445–446 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/099445b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/099445b0