168 FOREST INFLUENCES. 



iieath the trees, that the moisture and the snow accnuinlate, and are slowly and surely 

 supplied to the springs and streams, which then have a perennial flow. Let the 

 same grouud lie dei^rived of its shade Aw\ this exposure to the sun hastens evapora- 

 tion, and the rain and melting snow rapidly pass oft' through the water courses he 

 fore any sufficient quantity can reach the permanent reservoirs under the surtace. 

 The snow on the exposed hillside may be swejtt oft' entirely by the wind; and even 

 when any considerable portion remains, much will evaporate, and after all he lost to 

 the soil and the sj)rings. The soil itself is often vi'ashed oft', and the exposed rocks 

 given over to perpetual barrenness. 



In coufirmation of tbe conclusions of tlie New Hampshire forestry 

 commission may be appropriately cited the statement made in the New 

 Hampshire Geological Eej^ort (vol. i, p. 124), that when in the central 

 and southern j)ortions of the State the hay crop has been cut short by 

 drought, it has been known to be above the average in the northern 

 part, even with less rainfall, and as a reason it is claimed that the 

 forests in the northern section have secured a better distribution of the 

 results of rainfall and melted snow. 



R. W. Piper, in his Trees of America, gives this illustration as com- 

 ing under his own observation: 



Within about one-half mile of my residence there is a pond upon which mills have 

 been standing for a long time, dating back, I believe, to the first settlement of the 

 town. These have been kept in constant operation until about twenty or thirty 

 years ago, when the supply of Avater began to fail. The pond owed its existence to a 

 stream which has its source in the hills which stretch some miles to the south. 

 AVithiu the time mentioned these hills, which were clothed with a dense forest, have 

 been almost entirely stripped of trees; and to the wonder and loss of the mill- 

 owners, the water in the pond has failed, except in the season of freshets, and, what 

 was never heard of before,»the sti'eam itself has been entirely dry. Within the last 

 ten years a new growth of wood has sprung up on most of the land formerly occu- 

 pied by the old forest, and now the water runs through the year, notwithstanding 

 the drought of the last few years. 



A gentleman in eastern Massachusetts makes the following state- 

 ment: Having made a contract to supply an extensive nail factory with 

 kegs in which to pack the nails made, he purchased a timber tract in 

 southern Vermont, throngh which ran a stream. Upon this stream he 

 erected a sawmill and began to cut the timber and make it into kegs. 

 It was not long before the amount of water in the stream was les- 

 sened to such a degree that he was obliged to erect another mill below 

 the first, and thus use the water a second time in order to maintain the 

 requisite X)()wer for carrying on his business. 



It is a well-known fact that the flow of water in the Hoosick and 

 Housatonic ri^'ers, in western Massachusetts, has become so irregular 

 that the mill owners on those streams have been obliged to make stor- 

 age basins in which to hold the water of the spring floods for use in the 

 summer, or else to equip their mills with auxiliary steam engines. The 

 result is claimed to be due to extensive deforesting. 



Mr. David Thomi)son, of Cincinnati, said to the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, in 1881; 



