64 Forestry Quarterly. 



Topography and Geology of the Southern Appalachians, by 

 Arthur Keith ; Hydrography of the Southern Appalachians, by 

 H. A. Pressey and E. W. Myers ; Climate of the Southern Ap- 

 palachians, by Alfred J. Henry. 



The Conclusions of the Secretary of Agriculture are sum- 

 marized as follows in his report : 



" I. The Southern Appalachian region embraces the highest 

 peaks and largest mountain masses east of the Rockies. It is 

 the great physiographic feature of the eastern half of the con- 

 tinent, and no such lofty mountains are covered with hard- wood 

 forests in all North America. 



" 2. Upon these mountains descends the heaviest rainfall of 

 the United States, except that of the Pacific Coast. It is often of 

 extreme violence, as much as 8 inches having fallen in eleven 

 hours, 31 inches in one month, and 105 inches in a year. 



"3. The soil, once denuded of its forests and swept by tor- 

 rential rains, rapidly loses first its humus, then its rich upper 

 strata, and finally is washed in enormous volume into the 

 streams, to bury such of the fertile lowlands as are not eroded by 

 the floods, to obstruct the rivers, and to fill up the harbors on 

 the coast. More good soil is now washed from these cleared 

 mountain-side fields during a single heav}' rain than during cen- 

 turies under forest cover. 



' ' 4. The rivers which originate in the Southern Appalachians 

 flow into or along the edges of every State from Ohio to the Gulf 

 and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Along their courses 

 are agricultural, water-power, and navigation interests whose 

 preservation is absolutely essential to the well-being of the nation. 



"5. The regulation of the flow of these rivers can be ac- 

 complished only by the conservation of the forests, 



' '6. These are the heaviest and most beautiful hard-wood forests 

 of the Continent. In them species from east and west, from 

 north and south, mingle in a growth of unparalled richness and 

 variety. They contain many species of the first commercial value, 

 and furnish important supplies which can not be obtained from 

 any other region. 



"7. For economic reasons the preservation of these forests is 

 imperative. Their existence in good condition is essential to the 

 prosperity of the lowlands through which their waters run. 



