CURRENT LITERATURE 



REVIEWS 



Denudation and Erosion in the Southern 

 Appalachian Region and the Mononga- 

 hela Basin. By Leonidas Chalmers 

 Glenn. Department of the Interior, 

 United States Geological Survey. Pro- 

 fessional paper 72. Page 137, Washing- 

 ton, Government Printing Office, 1911. 

 This report, as stated in the introduc- 

 tion, presents "a brief summary of the re- 

 sults of an examination of the Southern 

 Appalachian region during the field sea- 

 sons of 1904 and 1905, and of the Monon- 

 gahela Basin in West Virginia and Penn- 

 sylvania in 1907, made for the purpose of 

 studying the effect of deforestation and 

 consequent erosion of the steep mountain 

 slopes on geologic, hydrologic and economic 

 conditions, both in the mountain region 

 itself and in the surrounding areas through 

 which the many streams that rise in the 

 high Appalachians flow on their way to the 

 Mississippi, the Gulf or the Atlantic." 



It will be seen from this statement how 

 important a bearing this report has upon 

 the subject of the preservation of the Ap- 

 palachian forests which has been so much 

 before the public and so much a matter of 

 controversy during the last few years. Pro- 

 fessor Glenn's method was closely scientific. 

 He traveled from valley to valley through 

 the southern mountains, noting and re- 

 cording with great exactness hillside and 

 mountainside wash and wear, soil removal 

 by gullying and soil burial by overwash 

 and stream overflow, the filling of mill- 

 ponds and the wrecking of dams and 

 bridges, and numerous other evils that 

 are attributed by many observers to reck- 

 less deforestation and injudicious attempts 

 to cultivate slopes that are not adapted 

 to agriculture. The report is liberally il- 

 lustrated from photographs that show in 

 the most graphic manner the conditions 

 described. His studies Included parts of 

 eight states. Pennsylvania, Virginia. West 

 Virginia. North Carolina, South Carolina. 

 Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Pro- 

 fessor Glenn holds that the problems 

 studied by him from the standpoint of the 

 geologist must be solved by methods that 

 relate chiefly to forestry and to agriculture. 

 The agricultural problem involves the se- 

 lection of the areas best suited for agri- 

 culture because of fertility and character 

 of soil and moderate slope of surface, and 



the study of the ways in which such areas 

 may be handled to prevent their own de- 

 struction through erosion, as well as the 

 destruction of other lands and property by 

 the waste material they deposit and the 

 floods they help to generate. Among other 

 facts noted in the course of his study was 

 the interesting one that steep slopes formed 

 of certain rocks can be safely cultivated, 

 while others no steeper, composed of other 

 rocks, were cultivated with disastrous re- 

 sults. 



Much of the area examined is not suit- 

 able for agricultural land and should not 

 be cleared and forced into agricultural use, 

 because that forcing means destruction 

 both of the area itself and of the lower- 

 lying areas on the same stream. Such 

 misuse means also slower but none the 

 less sure interference with navigation on 

 the more remote parts of the major stream 

 system. 



The report describes the physical fea- 

 tures of the country examined, discusses 

 the relation of industries to erosion and 

 denudation, taking up in succession agri- 

 culture, lumbering, mining, and power de- 

 velopment. The nature, effect and reme- 

 dies of erosion are considered and several 

 pages are given to a discussion of the de- 

 bated subject of changes in stream regi- 

 men. Professor Glenn says that "the for- 

 ester would protect steep slopes by keeping 

 them clothed with timber, coax back tree 

 growth on denuded areas, keep down forest 

 fires, protect and perpetuate the supply of 

 hard wood, protect the game and fish, and 

 enhance the beauty and charm of the region 

 as a health and pleasure resort, as well as 

 prevent the navigable streams that flow 

 from these mountains from filling up with 

 the sand and silt whose removal is now 

 costing annually large sums of money." 



Then follows a study of the details of 

 conditions in the region, prefaced by a de- 

 scription of the method of treatment. This, 

 with a table of streams and the index, 

 occupies the remaining hundred pages of 

 the report. 



We shall probably have occasion from 

 time to time to make use of the facts in 

 this report, which is a valuable reference 

 volume and should be near the hand of 

 everyone who is engaged in the study of 

 the problems connected with these moun- 

 tains. It can be obtained by application 

 to the Director of the Geological Survey. 



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