PERIODICAL LITERATURE 937 



getting their roots through the thick layer of leaves which fall during 

 the dry season, and are furthermore subject to keen competition from 

 other species. 



In spite of its isolation the life of the technically trained man has its 

 compensations. The government is committed to a vigorous policy on 

 its holdings and they make up the larger part of the forest resources of 

 Java. The technical force numbers 93, including the staff of the ex- 

 periment station, and is reinforced by 1,412 native helpers. The super- 

 visor is the local autocrat and is furnished with comfortable quarters 

 and suitable means of conveyance. Everything considered, the life has 

 distinct attractions and is recommended strongly to young Swiss 

 foresters. K. W. W. 



Ubcr Xicdrr!audisi-h — fudicas Fnrstcu tnid Wdlder. Schweizerische Zeitsch- 

 lift fiir Forstwesen. August, 1921. 



SOIL. WATER. AND CLIMATE 



Forests affect the regimen of the waters 

 The Forest as a in two ways : First, by making their flow 



Ref/ulafor and Generator more regular, and second, by increasing 

 of Waters their rlmndance through dews and mists 



which are deposited in considerably greater 

 quantity on the foliage of trees than on the bare soil. The first of 

 these influences has been scientifically demonstrated by the researches 

 of the Swiss Forest Experiment Station and by other investigations so 

 as to refute the objections of the most skeptical. It was well illus- 

 trated in 18T5 by floods in the Onne and the Pique, two adjacent 

 streams the watersheds of which are practically identical in all respects 

 except that the former is only about 5 per cent and the latter about 40 

 per cent forested. The Onne increased its discharge with great sud- 

 denness and violence from 11 to 130 cubic meters and caused a damage 

 of several hundred thousand francs ; while the Pique increased its dis- 

 charge much more gradually from 8 to 46 cubic meters and caused a 

 damage of not more than fi.OOO francs. The influence of the forest in 

 increasing the abundance of waters was carefully investigated some 

 sixty years ago by a prominent engineer who reported that the discharge 

 of springs is twice as much in forested as in deforested areas, and that 

 reforestation can increase the discharge of springs by 7 meters per day 

 for every hectare reforested. Subsequent investigations by the Central 



