THE EFFECT OF THE FOREST UPON 



WATERS 



Translation by MILDRED A. CASTLE, Wisconsin Department of State Forestry, of an Article, 

 La Capacite Retentionelle de la Foret, from the Revue des Eaux et Forets, Paris, January 

 1 and 15, 1909, 



This translation of a lenipcrale summing up of tht- results of European researches upon 

 the subject of the effect of the forest upon waters is of especial value and interest at this 

 time, when a determined effort is being made by men in high government positions in this 

 -ountry to discredit the experience of all nations and the conclusions of the most eminent 

 forestr}- authorities and engineers upon the subject. — The Editor. 



T 



HE aim sought by the ntinierotis 

 associations that are endeavoring 

 to popularize the work of refor- 

 estation is not only to ward off a certain 

 deficit in the wood production of our 

 country — a deficit that increases ever 

 with the demands of industry ; it is also, 

 and above all, to restore our national 

 commerce and prosperity by rendering 

 stream-flow uniform and by improving 

 navigation in our network of rivers, 

 notably that of our two great rivers in 

 which navigation is becoming more 

 dangerous and difficult every day, the 

 Loire and Garonne. 



The remarkable zeal of the promoters 

 of this campaign undertaken to pre- 

 serve the existing forests and to in- 

 crease reforestation in the mountainous 

 regions, had its birth in the conviction 

 that the presence of forests causes a 

 more uniform stream flow, lessens the 

 ravages of floods, and sustains springs 

 and streams. 



It would seem, indeed, that the action 

 of the forest in regulating stream flow 

 and its favorable influence on floods, 

 as well as on the feeding of springs and 

 rivers, should no longer be in question 

 to-day. 



The discussion of this (piestion at the 

 Congress of Navigation at Milan in 

 1905 showed that there was a diver- 

 gence of opinion among foresters, hy- 

 draulic engineers and geographers. A 

 recent article by the distinguished sec- 

 retary of the stafiF of La Geographic 

 I Charles Rabot], the review of the 

 156 



geographical society, presented some 

 points that tended to diminish to a con- 

 siderable degree the value hitherto at- 

 tribtited to the pereimial vegetation of 

 forests in checking floods and regulat- 

 ing stream flow. We beg permission 

 to acquaint the readers of the Rcznie 

 des Eaux ct Forets with the ideas ad- 

 vanced on one side and the other of this 

 subject of vital importance, leaving it 

 to them to draw such conchisions as 

 thev think right. 



THE CONGRESS AT MILAN 



Papers by Messrs. W'oIfscJuiiz, Landa. 

 Ponti, and Loklitine 



In discussing, in the article referred 

 to above, the papers given at the con- 

 gress of Milan by Messrs. Keller, privy 

 counsellor of the administration of 

 buildings at Menna (Austria), Lauda, 

 counsellor sitperior to the minister of 

 the interior, and director of the cen- 

 tral bureau of hydrography of Vienna : 

 Wolfschiitz, agricultural counsellor, at 

 Brtinn (Moravia), and Ponti, engineer 

 in chief of the Italian corps of civil 

 engineers, Charles Rabot expresses 

 himself thus: 



"In France, under the influence of 

 the forestry school, every virtue is at- 

 tributed to forests and every evil is 

 laid to deforestation. For more than 



