534 STEVENSON— FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. [November 3. 



The streams, though draining comparatively small areas, carry an 

 enormous amount of water in flood time. At low water, the river 

 extends for some distance through reedy flats on each side of the 

 flowing stream. The swamps, which are without Spliagnmn, may 

 be divided into three classes : those, formed in areas so frequently 

 overflowed and so penetrated with water that they cannot afford a 

 site for perennial shrubs, are occupied by rushes in the' lower por- 

 tions and by grasses in the upper ; those, occupying a narrow belt in 

 which the grasses give place to various bushy and low growing 

 plants, among which alders are the prevalent forms ; then, in some 

 places, a third class, a wide field of swamps, really very wet woods, 

 covered with water not more than twice a year and usually two or 

 three feet above the ordinary inundations. The vegetation is con- 

 tinuous from the lower bench to the wet woods and it is able to resist 

 the flood, though the mass of water is very great and the current very 

 rapid. During flood these streams are almost torrential. 



The rivers of Maine tell the same story. The Androscoggin, 

 Kennebec and Penobscot are all liable to sudden floods and the fierce 

 rush of water is reinforced by logs cut for timber. But the banks 

 of those streams are covered with bushes and trees to within a foot 

 and a half of the August stage of water; the flood, though aided by 

 the logs, has not succeeded in tearing out these trees, but the trees 

 have seized the logs, which may be seen for long distances entangled 

 in the bushes. Islands in the Androscoggin have trees 40 feet high, 

 against which the floating timber has lodged. 



The Connecticut river, draining a great part of the White moun- 

 tains as well as of the Massachusetts highlands, flows for nearly 200 

 miles in a broad valley, rising in terraces. It is subject to great 

 floods, for much of the rugged region around its headwaters has 

 been cleared. The writer has ridden several times for a distance 

 of 150 miles along the banks soon after high floods, which had over- 

 flowed the second bottom, 15 to 20 feet above ordinary low water. 

 Loose material, twigs and fallen branches, which had become dry 

 but not decayed, had been removed to be deposited in eddies or on 

 the bottoms. Ikit trees and bushes growing on the lower bottom or 

 on the banks down to within a foot of low water, were not removed. 



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