STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 14 



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actual condition, even making large allowance for exaggeration, it was easy to see that 

 the level was considerably depressed. The (acts spoke for themselves. Oviedo, who, 

 toward the close of the L6tb century had often traversed the valley of Aragua, says 

 positively that New Valencia was founded In 1555, at one and one-half miles from the 

 lake of Tacarigua. In 1800, Humboldt found this city, three and one-half English miles 

 from the shore. The aspect of the soil furnished new proofs. Many hillocks on the 

 plain, retain the name of Islands, which they more justly bore, when they were sur- 

 rounded by water. The ground laid bare by the retreat of the lake was converted into 

 admirable plantations of cotton, bananas, and sugarcane; and buildings erected near 

 the lake, showed the sinking of the water from year to year. In 1706 new islands made 

 their appearance. An important military point, a fortress built in 1740, on the island 

 of Cabiera was now on a peninsula. Humboldt did not hesitate to ascribe the diminu- 

 tion of the waters of the lake to the numerous clearings which had been made in the 

 valley of Aragua within half a century. In 1800, the valley of Aargua possessed a 

 population as dense as that of any of the best peopled parts of France. Such was its 

 prosperous condition when Humboldt saw it; :22 years later, I explored this valley. 

 For some years previous the inhabitants bad observed that the waters of the lake were 

 no longer retiring, but on the contrary, were sensibly rising. Grounds, not long before 

 occupied by plantations, were submerged. The island of Nuevas Aparecidas, which 

 appeared above the surface in 1766, had again become shoals, dangerous to navigation. 

 Cabiera, a tongue of land on the north side of the valley, was so narrow that the least 

 rise of the water completely inundated it. A protracted north wind sufficed to flood 

 the road between Maracay and New Valencia. The fears which the inhabitants of the 

 shores bad so long entertained were reversed. During the 2:2 years which had elapsed, 

 important political events had occurred. Venezuela no longer belonged to Spain. The 

 peaceful valley of Aragua had been the theater of bloody struggles, and a war of exter- 

 mination had desolated those smiling lands, and decimated their population. At the 

 first cry of independence, a great number of slaves found their liberty, by enlisting 

 under the banners of the new Republic. The great plantations were abandoned, and 

 the forest, which in the tropics, so rapidly encroaches, had soon recovered a large por- 

 tion of the soil, which man had wrested from it by more than a century of constant 

 and painful labor." 



Mar- hand gives the following remarkable in tanee of the effect of trees upon springs: 

 "The Wolf Bpring, in the commune of Boubey, furnishes a remarkable example of the 

 influence of the woods upon fountains. A fewyears ago, this spring did not exist. At 

 the place where it now rifles a small thread of water was observed after very long rains, 

 but the stream disappeared with the rain. The spot is in the middle of a very steep 

 pasture, inclining to the south. Eighty years ago, the owner of the land perceiving that 

 youmc lirs were shooting up in the upper part of it, determined to let them grow ; and 

 they SOOn formed a flouri.-hiiitr grow. As soon as they were well grown, a tine spring 

 appeared in place of the occasional rill, and furnished abundant water in the lonf 

 droughts. For 40 or 50 years this spring was considered the best intheClosdu Doubs. 

 A few years since the grove was felled, and the ground turned again to a pasture. The 

 spiring disappeared witli the. wood, and is now as dry as ft was 90 years ago." 



William ('. Bryant, as quoted by Dr. Piper, makes the following remarks: "It is a 

 common observation that our summers arc become dryer, and our streams smaller. 

 Take the Cuyahoga as an illustration. Fifty years ago, large barges loaded with goods 



