39 



of the State, 20.9 bushels per acre. With oats the records show practically 

 the same: 



1878—1880 19.3 bushels per acre 



1881—1885 30.5(3 bushels per acre 



1886—1890 27.39 bushels per acre 



1891—1895 26.26 bushels per acre 



1896—1900 29.99 bushels per acre 



These fluctuations do not indicate the constant deleterious influences of 

 deforestation, and in 1899 and 1900 the yield per acre reached its maxi- 

 mum. 



The same general conditions are found to exist in the case of other 

 cereals. 



While these things are true for the whole State, in those localities that 

 haA'e suffered most from deforestation the amount of wheat and otlier 

 grains produced on an acre has fallen off with the steady decline of the 

 forests. These local losses seem to be made good by the heavy yields of 

 newly cleared ground which has not yet felt the full effect of cutting 

 away its adjoining timber, but the time must certainly come when what 

 has been true in so many countries will be found true here. The world 

 is full of examples of barren and sterile areas that were once verdant 

 and productive, and the change has been brought about as the result of 

 deforestation. 



The whole Mediterranean country was once the garden of the world, 

 but with the ruthless destruction of the forests came the blight of drought, 

 cruel winds, storms and snows, that ruined rich plantations, made vine- 

 clad slopes unproductive and impoverished the entire basin. Parts of Ger- 

 many, France and Spain have taken alarm at the approach of similar con- 

 ditions and, at great expense, have restored to the lands their covering 

 of trees and the return of prosperity has demonstrated the necessity of 

 forests to the fertility of the soil. 



One of the direct results of the destruction of our forests has been 

 the disappearance of our springs, the consequent failure of our domestic 

 water supply and the variation in volume and regularity of our streams. 

 The annual rainfall has varied but little during the last fifty years, but 

 the method of its disposal has materially changed. The great water 

 capacity of forest soil and litter, the rapidity with which water percolates 

 through it. the irregularitv of the forest floor and the general absence of 



