65 



Annual rainfall and nin-oi on forested and nonforested catclunent areas 

 in the San Bernardino Mountains, California. 



On small nonforested catchment areas in the West, and possi- 

 bly on large ones as well, a very large part of the heavy precipi- 

 tation of the rainy season flows over the surface, quickly reaches 

 the stream, and is discharged from the catchment area as flood 

 water, much as water escapes from the roof of a building. On 

 such areas the actual loss through evaporation during the dry 

 season is probably far less than from a well-wooded area, because 

 the surface soil and streams are dry, and there is very little mois- 

 ture left to evaporate. On such denuded areas it appears that the 

 run-off for the few months that the streams flow is considerably 

 larger than that for the entire year from similar forested areas. 

 Although a nonforested area may, in certain instances, produce a 

 larger run-off than a forested one, this probably never occurs ex- 

 cept when the run-off from the nqnforested area is largely flood 

 water, and of destructive rather than constructive significance. 



CONCLUSION. 



In conclusion, it may be said that although the forest may have, 

 on the whole, but little appreciable effect in increasing the rain- 

 fall and the annual run-off, its economic importance in regulating 

 the flow of streams is beyond computation. The great indirect 

 value of the forest is the effect which it has in preventing wind 

 and water erosion, thus allowing the soil on hills and mountains 

 to remain where it is formed, and in other ways providing an ade- 

 quate absorbing medium at the sources of the water courses of the 

 country. It is the amount of water that passes into the soil, not 

 the amount of rainfall, that makes a region garden or desert. 



CULTURE OF ORNAMENTAL AND FLOWERING 



SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS. 



By William J. Thompson, F.R.H.S. Travelling Instructor, and 

 Superintendent, Kingston Public Garden. 



It should be remembered that when plants of this class are put 

 out, it is usually intended that they are to remain in the same posi- 



