412 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gradually permeates to the subsoil, and so feeds the underground water- 

 bearing strata upon which springs and wells must eventually depend. 

 Dr. Marsh in his writing '' The Earth as Modified by Man," says : 

 The protection afforded by the forests against the escape of moisture 

 from its soil by superficial flow and evaporation, insures the perma- 

 nence and regularity of natural springs, not only within the limits 

 of the woods, but at some distance beyond its borders, and thus con- 

 tributes to the supply of an element essential to both animal and veg- 

 etable life. As the forests are destroyed, the springs that flowed from 

 the woods, and, consequently, the greater water courses fed by them, 

 diminish both in number and volume. My own recollection suggests 

 to me many instances of this sort; and 1 remember one case where a 

 small mountain spring, which disappeared soon after the clearing of 

 the ground where it rose, was recovered about twenty years ago by 

 simply allowing the bushes and young trees to grow upon a rocky 

 knoll, not more than an acre in extent, immediately above the spring. 

 The ground was hardly shaded before the water reappeared, and it has 

 continued to flow without interruption. The hills of the Atlantic 

 States formerly abounded in springs and brooks ; but in many parts of 

 these States, which were cleared a generation or two ago, the hill pas- 

 tures now suffer severely from drought, and in dry seasons furnish ta 

 cattle neither grass nor water. 



THE A3IERICAN FORESTRY CONGRESS. 



« 



The American Forestry Congress held its fourth annual meeting: 

 in Boston, Mass., September 22, 23 and 24, and at it an unusually large 

 amount of practical information was brought together from all parts of 

 the country. This association is growing more and more in import- 

 ance, and its main object is to stir up public sentiment in regard to 

 the more economical use of our timber resources, and while it advo- 

 cates the preservation and improvement of the woods covering our 

 mountains and hillsides, it advises the planting of trees on waste and 

 barren places in the eastern and in the treeless regions of the western 

 States. That the importance of its aims begins to be quite fully ap- 

 preciated at large, might be inferred from the fact that each of the 

 New England States had sent officially appointed delegates; while 

 Canada, Ohio, and Nebraska sent representatives, and even California 

 did not think a journey of 6,000 miles too much for her delegate to 

 this convention. 



Nobody can be, or ought to be, more directly interested in this 

 question than the farmers, who are in many respects dependent for 

 success on the preservation and proper distribution of forests over the 



