Caimi states that since the cutting down of the woods of the Apennines, the cold winds destroy or stunt the vegetation, and that, in consequence of "the usurpation of winter on the domain of spring," the district of Mugello has lost all its mulberries, except the few which find in the lee of buildings a protection like that once furnished by the forest. [Footnote: Cenni sulla Importanza e Coltura dei Boschi, p. 31.] The department of Ardeche, which now contains not a single considerable wood, has experienced within thirty years a climatic disturbance, of which the late frosts, formerly unknown in the country, are one of the most melancholy effects. Similar results have been observed in the plain of Alsace, in consequence of the denudation of several of the crests of the Vosges. [Footnote: Clave, Etudes, p. 44.] [Footnote It has been observed in Sweden that the spring, in many districts where the forests have been cleared off, now comes on a fortnight later than in the last century.--Asbjornsen, Om Skovene i norge, p. 101.] Dussard, as quoted by Ribbe, [Footnote: La Provence au point de vue des Torrents et des Inondations, p. 10. Dussard is doubtless historically inaccurate in making the origin of the mistral so late as the time of Augustus. Diodorus Siculus, who was a contemporary of Julius Caesar, describes the north-west winds in Gaul as violent enough to hurl along stones as large as the fist with clouds of sand and gravel, to strip travellers of their arms and clothing, and to throw mounted men from their horses. Bibliotheca Historica, lib. v., c. xxvi. Diodorus, it is true, is speaking of the climate of Gaul in general, but his description can hardly refer to anything but the mistral of South-eastern France.] maintains that even the MISTRAL, or north-west wind, whose chilling blasts are so fatal to tender vegetation in the spring, "is the child of man, the result of his devastations." "Under the reign of Augustus," continues he, "the forests which protected the Cevennes were felled, or destroyed by fire, in mass. A vast country, before covered with impenetrable woods--powerful obstacles to the movement and even to the formation of hurricanes--was suddenly denuded, swept bare, stripped, and soon after, a scourge hitherto unknown, struck terror over the land from Avignon to the Bouches-du-Rhone, thence to Marseilles, and then extended its ravages, diminished indeed by a long career which had partially exhausted its force, over the whole maritime frontier. The people thought this wind a curse sent of God. They raised altars to it and offered sacrifices to appease its rage." It seems, however, that this plague was less destructive than at present, until the close of the sixteenth century, when further clearings had removed most of the remaining barriers to its course. Up to that time, the north-west wind appears not to have attained to the maximum of specific effect which now characterizes it as a local phenomenon.