NEWS AND NOTES 



403 



forests will be if present methods con- 

 tinue. 



Consul General Skinner concludes his 

 report with the suggestion to those in 

 America who have shown sufficient in- 

 terest in the matter to write him on the 

 subject : 



"If correspondents could penetrate, 

 as the writer has done, the almost in- 

 accessible mountain villages of this 

 country, and there discover the en- 

 thusiastic French forester at work, ap- 

 plying scientific methods which cannot 

 come to fruition before two or three 

 hundred years, they would retire full of 

 admiration and surprise and carry the 

 lesson back to the United States.'' 



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The American Nile . 2 



THE Geological Survey has pub- 

 lished (in Water-supply Paper No. 

 211) a most interesting comparison of 

 the Nile, the Colorado, which has been 

 called the Nile of America, and the 

 Susquehanna. The Nile and Colorado 

 are similar in type, and the Susquehan- 

 na is introduced to show the difference 

 in flow between arid and humid re- 

 gions. The comparison uses a normal 

 year based upon records for the Colo- 

 rado and Susquehanna, collected by the 

 Survey in the last ten years, and such 

 data as could be found in regard to the 

 Nile. The Colorado is taken as the 

 standard of comparison. 



The Nile has 5.7 times the drainage 

 area and the Susquehanna about one- 

 eighth the area of the Colorado. 



The rainfall in the Nile basin is 3.8 

 times greater; that in the Susquehanna 

 basin is 4.5 times greater. The run-off 

 per square mile from the Nile basin is 

 1.9 times greater; that from the Sus- 

 quehanna basin is thirty-seven times 

 greater. The ratio of run-off to rain- 

 fall in the Nile basin is one-half as 



great ; that of the Susquehanna basin is 

 8.2 times greater. 



The discharge of the Nile is 10.8 

 times greater ; that of the Susquehanna 

 is 4.5 times greater. 



The maximum flow of the Nile is 

 about three hundred fifty-three thou- 

 sand second-feet, and occurs about the 

 first of September ; that of the Colo- 

 rado is from seventy thousand to one 

 hundred ten thousand second-feet, and 

 occurs in May, June, or July ; that of 

 the Susquehanna is from two hundred 

 thousand to four hundred thousand 

 second-feet, and occurs during March,. 

 April, and May. 



The minimum flow of the Nile is 

 about fourteen thousand five hundred 

 second feet, and occurs about the end 

 of May ; that of the Colorado is from 

 two thousand five hundred to three 

 thousand second-feet, and occurs dur- 

 ing January and February ; that of the 

 Susquehanna is from two thousand five 

 hundred to five thousand second-feet^ 

 and occurs in September and October. 



The mean flow of the Nile is about 

 one hundred fifteen thousand eight hun- 

 dred second-feet, of the Colorado 

 about ten thousand seven hundred 

 second-feet, of the Susquehanna about 

 forty-three thousand second-feet. 



Estimates of the amount of sediment 

 carried by the Nile and Susquehanna 

 are not given, but the water of the 

 Colorado is said to carry an immense 

 amount, reaching as high as two thou- 

 sand parts of sediment to one hundred 

 thousand parts of water. Prof. R. H. 

 Forbes, in a bulletin of the Arizona 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, states 

 that "it is estimated conservatively that 

 the river brought down during 1900 

 about sixty-one million tons of sedi- 

 mentary material, which, condensed to 

 the form of solid rock, is enough to 

 cover 26.4 sqviare miles one foot deep, 

 or to make about 164 square miles of 

 recently settled submerged mud one 

 foot deep." 



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