ARBORICULTURE. 



237 



l^ow its banks. In places during 1907 it 

 became thirty miles wide. 



AT EVANSVILI^E, INDIANA. 



The Wabash. White and Patoka Riv- 

 ers join near Evansville, and here great 

 damage was wrought by the back waters. 

 Xumerous instances are mentioned 

 where farmers lost all their crops, stock, 

 implements, and even many houses. The 

 city of Evansville is situated in a sharp 

 and long bend of the river, the Louis- 

 ville and Nashville Railway Bridge cross- 

 ing the Ohio some ten miles below the 

 city. The river cut across the long, nar- 

 row point of land opposite the citv, 

 threatening to make a permanent chan- 

 nel five miles away, and fears are enter- 

 tained that Evansville may then become 

 an inland city. 



There is a greatly-increased volume 

 of water which must be quicklv re- 

 moved after each storm of rain since 

 the removal of the forests over so great 

 an area of territory as the entire vallev 

 of the Ohio River and its affluent tribu- 

 taries, an area of no less than 231,000 

 square miles. The tributaries having their 

 sources in thirteen States, and the result- 

 ing erosion of all the spongy materials, 

 the accumulation of a thousand years, 

 which covered all this area to a ereat 

 depth and held back a large proportion 

 of the water from every fall of rain, al- 

 lowing it to percolate slowly, feed a mil- 

 lion springs, afford a constant f>w of 

 water in every rivulet and stream, and 

 maintain a regular flow throughout the 

 >ear in the Ohio. 



The greatly-increased volume of water 

 which must be removed in a brief period 

 after each rain, since the removal of the 

 forests with their mass of spongy mate- 

 rial which covered all the surface, taxes 

 the capacity of the river's bed to the ut- 



most ; and when a long protracted storm 

 of rain occurs, the banks are totally in- 

 adequate to hold the vast quantity of 

 rushing water. 



Every dam, sand bar, abutment of 

 masonry, and ledge of limestone rock 

 projecting from the hills on either side, 

 helps to obstruct the flow of water and 

 forces it back upon the farms, which it 

 soon covers, creating havoc to the agri- 

 cultural interests along its course. 



Xow this is all changed : the springs 

 are gone, rivulets are dry in summer, 

 the volume of water in the Ohio is so 

 reduced during the droughts of summer 

 that navigation must be suspended for 

 many liionths. 



The clay is eroded from every farm- 

 er's field ; the limestone rocks torn from 

 the river hills all along its course unite 

 to fill the river bed, obstruct its channel, 

 and destroy navigation. 



There could be no other result when 

 the torrential rains come than to fill this 

 river bed and overflow the banks in its 

 mad effort to find a speedy outlet. 



DEMANDS OF STEAMBOAT INTERESTS. 



The citizens of Evansville, one of the 

 stricken cities, and the steamboat inter- 

 ests especially, have been persistent in 

 urging the Government to build more 

 dams, and raise the bottom of the river 

 ten feet higher, in order to create a 

 nine-foot stage of water, with slack-wa- 

 ter navigation during the summer season. 



How little do they think of the terrible 

 results of such a course, when in time of 

 floods each obstruction must raise the 

 entire body of water so much higher and 

 cause the overflow of a still greater area 

 of farm land and destruction of a much 

 greater quantity of property ! 



THE True remedy. 

 ■ The proper course to pursue, now that 



