54 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



becomes more subject to drought ; it dries quicker, and becomes baked 

 sooner. 



Now, you may restore many of these old fields by turning them into 

 clover fields, but what I submit is, that virtually restoring some of them 

 does not affect, nor is it affected by, the forests you have. Is not a field 

 of corn somewhat similar to a forest in gathering moisture from the 

 atmosphere and precipitating it ? The idea I wish to convey is this — a 

 field in foliage crops will have the same effect in retaining moisture as the 

 forests do. If that is so, and it was all, then the removal of forests would 

 not be objectionable. But these fields become worn out, and the soil 

 being baked hard, the water that falls upon them runs off; as the water 

 records show, along the Mississippi, the rise and fall is quicker each suc- 

 ceeding year than it was before. There is a fact to be guarded against. 

 Is it not best that this land, which is being lost to cultivation, should be 

 devoted to forest growth, then? This denudation and compacting of the 

 soil by cultivation is the cause, I think, of the waters going to the rivers, 

 and giving us a less supply in springs than we otherwise would have. 



Mr. Riley — If not thought tedious, I will reply to one or two of 

 the points mentioned. Any crop has some effect on the climate, so far 

 as the moisture is concerned. Forests, and even fields, when neglected, 

 will soon be overrun with weeds, and they will have the same effect as 

 forests ; and if the experiments of the French philosopher are to be relied 

 upon, they are valuable, for I would rather take a few exact experiments, 

 founded on proof, than all these ideas and theories. 



Mr. Flagg — Have you looked into these experiments of Mr. 

 Knott ? 



Mr. Riley — Not very closely. 



Mr. Flagg — They are exact., 



Mr. Riley — I am not prepared to say but that the rain-fall may be 

 more evenly distributed ; but I rather expect, without being posted on 

 the topography of this subject, that it would not be. In passing over the 

 country, I notice that the more thickly a country becomes settled, the 

 drier it becomes. I recollect that, in Kentucky, I have walked through 

 sloughs, where you would have gone in skiffs a few years before. Why 

 does it become drier ? Because men drain the land, and the water is 

 carried to the rivers and thence to the ocean much more rapidly than it 

 was before. I do not think it can be so easily attributed to diminution of 

 forest trees. 



I have traveled over tracts where the timber has been denuded, and 

 seen the young growth coming up pretty fast. Look at the changes that 



