142 



V. 



ScvcI'mI tiiiirs ill this p.-ip''!- it li;is ln'cii ncccssMfy \i> call iitli-iitioii U> 

 llu' |(ircst ciiiiililidiis of llic (ii-iftli'ss ;iifii. Wliilc tliis suhjoct does not. 

 in stricliu'^s. c-oiiic witliiii the view <>f a ,L'('(^i(»;;ist. nevertheless the success 

 or faihire nl' a water-stiiiply system, in a re,:.'ii)n where steep sh)pes pro- 

 poudcrate. is so intimately hoiuid iiii with forest pi-ol)lfiiis. that it may 

 not he out of place- to devote a little spa( c to the (Miisidcrat ion of this 

 topic. 



N'ery little \ir.uiii limher is left stalldin^' in southern Indiana. Where 

 the timher I'as not heeii removed entirely, it has lieeii closely culled, and 

 ill man\ instances Itnrned o\-er. so that the stand is often thin and the' 

 forest (()\er \)ih,v. The writer has often been struck hy the characier of 

 the woods in P.rown County, which i,dves the impression of being largely 

 under forest. And so it is, if one co.nsiders merely the area occupied 

 mainly hy trees; but when one notes caiefnlly the character of the stand, 

 one is Immediately impressed with the fact that scarcely :i tree can be 

 found that .aiijiears to be over fifty years old. and much of the stand con- 

 sists of mere sapliiiLCs and inferior coppice, ("uttiu:,' is still u'oiiii,' on in 

 the whole of the driftless area, and the wi'itei has seen tracts of many 

 acres oi steep shtpes denuded of their trees within the last five years. T!k> 

 fate of these sIojjcs, under the type of farmin.t,' LCeiierally practiced in the 

 legion, is jiathetic (Fig. 0.). (Jidlying begins immediately, especially 

 where the soil consists largely of cl.ay. and absorbs the rainwater slowly, 

 ami in a few years the hillside is a seined ruin. The regimen of the 

 streams is ladic.illy changed. Floods increase in frequency and violence. 

 Springs tiiat formerly had ;i .-teadx and abundant How throngliout the 

 year, are redticed to dwiudling threads of water throughdUt the dry sea- 

 son. 



From the standpoint of water-snpiilx . one of the most serious of tliesc 

 effects is the chiinge of stream regimen. .Vs (ileim' has poiided out in t'n> 

 Miulheiii .\ppalacliians. whether or not tlie total rainfall of a reu'ion is 

 all'ected liy deforestation, it can bc> demonstrated that tlie regimen of th" 

 streams is m)tably clianged. lie lias shown, and the same thing can lie 

 sjiowii in southern Indi.nia. lliat in regions still under adequate forest 

 cover, the streams are clear even at Hood st.iu'e. lie ;ils<i points mit the 



W/7(70i. //. C, I ii'iini!;!! inn mmI !;i(isiiiii in tlic SimiIIkiii Appnlaclii.-nis. IT. S. 

 Col. Siirv., I'nifcssiiiiml I':i!>. r .No. 71!. I'.UI. 



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