54 



THE GARDENERS MONTHLY 



[ February, 



MTURAL MiSTORY AND r&CIENCE. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



FACTS RELATIVE TO "RAIN FALL AND THE 

 LAKES." 



BY MR. E. lU'FTKLKN, I.E ROY, GENESEE CO., N. Y. 



In the November number of the Gardener's 

 Monthly, three copies of which have been sent 

 to me, in two of the same, I find the article 

 " Rain-fall and the Lakes," marked. It calls for 

 facts, of which I present a few that are quite 

 prominent. Western New York is watered by 

 several large streams, but they are gradually 

 drying aivay. Many small streams that once 

 helped to swell them, are not now to be found. 

 A dry stream-bed which crosses this farm, once 

 furnished power for a grist-mill. That was 

 about sixty years ago, when this section of coun- 

 try was nearly covered with timber. Now the 

 mill is in ruins and the stream is dry. For 

 thirty years I have lived by the side of it, and 

 have seen it diminish in exact proportion as the 

 timber was cut away around its source. A few 

 miles west of us is another dry mill, on what 

 used to be another stream. From a weather 

 journal I find that the summer showers from 

 June 1st to September 1st, have fallen off in 

 number Hi per cent, in thirty years. 



" The Falls of Niagara have not decreased in 

 volume, neither have the waters of the Missis- 

 sippi diminished in any material degree," though 

 many of the smaller streams that once fell into 

 it near its mouth, have disappeared; and al- 

 though the waters of the upper lakes have not 

 gone down to a perceptible extent, Ontario, 

 which receives them all, has in fifty-six years 

 uncovered 18 7-12 feet of beach, and is still going 

 down, showing that its own tributaries are con- 

 stantly diminishing. When the country by 

 which the upper lakes are surrounded, becomes 

 as destitute of timber as that by which Ontario 

 is surrounded, their waters will diminish and 

 also those of the Mississippi. 



Six thousand miles in the saddle, demoKStra- 

 ted to me that the timber belts were the factories 

 wherein were made the summer showers. The 

 Indians understand it, for I said to one of them 

 that I would not like to live in that country, 

 because it was so dry ; and his response was, 



" Much dry, no big bush, no rain big." This was 

 in the " far West and South-west," and the same 

 rule is being developed here. 



[We hope peoi)le will plant trees. There is 

 profit in tree planting, and will be more. So far 

 as these meteorological matters are concerned, 

 it is well to remember that not one man in a 

 million is competent to decide where the " source" 

 of a stream is. We can tell where the water 

 issues from the ground — but it often runs hun- 

 dreds of miles beneath thesurl'ace before we see it. 

 Cutting away the trees along the banks of a 

 stream, can therefore have no possible influence 

 on the water at the " source." Geological rea- 

 sons have often much to do with a diminished 

 water supply. — Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Fertilization of Flowers through Insect 

 Agency. — There are signs that what we have re- 

 garded as extreme views about this matter, are 

 weakening. Some two years ago, the general 

 one was, substantially that of Sprengcl, who 

 nearly three-quarters of ;i century ago, declared 

 that nature does not intend any plant to be fer- 

 tilized by its own pollen. This view has been 

 held by many of our distinguished botanists. 



In the Fall of 1875, Prof. Asa Gray spoke on 

 the subject at the sixth semi-annual meeting of 

 the Holyoke Seminary, and is reported by the 

 Scientific Farmer to have said : — "All plants with 

 showy, fragrant, honey-bearing flowers, are 

 arranged for cross fertilization. Nature abhors 

 in-and-in breeding, and like a wise teacher 

 shuns the practice." 



So widely had the idea taken root, that in aU 

 plants, nature shunned the practice of in-and- 

 in breeding, that failure to produce seed became 

 generally attributed to a lack of certain insects; 

 and, because the first crop of clover in this coun- 

 try, and all crops of clover in New Zealand were 

 thought not to produce seed, it was supposed the 

 lack of insects was to blame. Last year humble- 

 bees were shipped to New Zealand, because the 

 tongues of the honey-bees were thought not long 

 enough to penetrate to the bottom of the red 

 clover corolla tubes. The writer of this, so far as 



