Relationships of Forests to Rainfall

The Island of St. Helena furnishes a remarkable illustration of the connection that exists between forests and rainfall. When discovered in 1502, St. Helena had heavy forests. The introduction of goats and other causes destroyed these woodlands until the island was almost denuded. The consequences were, that in the records of the eighteenth century we find accounts of repeated and almost periodical visitations of very severe drought, occasioning various losses to cattle and crop products. The governor of the Island saw the need of strenuous efforts and procured trees of various kinds from different parts of the world, and Mediterranean Pinus Pinaster was sown extensively; several plantations of this still exist. The result of this planting can be judged from a recent record from St. Helena as follows: “For many years past, since the general growth of our trees, we have been preserved from the scourge; and droughts, such as were formerly recorded, are now altogether unknown. Our fall of rain is now equal to that of England, and is spread almost evenly over the year.”