DEI^ORESTATION AND FLOODS IN NORTHERN CHINA 889 



Actually to see the results of such record floods is no more interesting 

 than to learn of what some people have said as to the real cause of such 

 floods. So before I discuss the problem from a purely forestry stand- 

 point, I wish to quote at the outset what some of the engineers or 

 scientists who have been for some time connected with Chihli con- 

 servancy work have said. 



Mr. J. B. Taylor, in his attempt to arouse the people in Chihli to the 

 necessity of inaugurating a permanent Chihli Conservancy Board, sug- 

 gested among other things that reforestation is the most important 

 remedial measure which must be taken in the control of Chihli floods, 

 and he emphasized the point by saying : 



"It is absolutely essential to ameliorate the rivers, especially the Hun Ho, 

 in the mountainous collecting basin, by reforestation and by the erection of bar- 

 rages. The first effect of this is to delay the waters during heavy rains and so 

 reduce the freshets and the liability to floods. But these improvements have a 

 much more important eflfect, namely, the keeping back of the silt which is so 

 injurious to the rivers. Forests act as a sponge, retaining moisture and furnish- 

 ing a protective coating that prevents erosion." 



Mr. P. L. Yang, chief hydraulic engineer of the Conservancy Bureau, 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, in his study of the river system 

 in Chihli, wrote : 



"There are three ways of solving the flood problem in Chihli, namely: (l) 

 reforestation; (2) erection of barrages; and (3) construction of reservoirs. But 

 tlie erection of barrages and the construction of reservoirs require such an enor- 

 mous expenditure of money, and besides they do not have a permanent effect. 

 So we may safely say that reforestation is the best and the most important meas- 

 ure to be considered in the control of floods in Chihli province." 



Again, Ur. P. E. Licent, a well-known scientist, who conducted per- 

 haps more scientific investigation through the flooded districts than any- 

 body else, said : 



"It is to be feared that next fall there will be another big flood around Tientsin, 

 because the five rivers in this province are badly silted up and the embankments 

 arc in bad repair, l-'or instance, along the Tze-ya Ho from Sienlisien to Tient- 

 sin, I saw twelve places at which the embankments are broken. Now it is on 

 account of a long-continued deforestation which has deprived the dilTerent water 

 sheds of their protective covering that all these rivers have become silted up. 

 I was traveling in the mountains near Paotingfu last August, and 1 saw hun- 

 dreds of corpses washed down with houses, dead cattle, bowlders, etc., by the 

 terrific torrents. In one place called Tai Lun Mung, near Chochow, I saw eighty 

 four corpses floating grucsomcly on a little pond. The terrible mountain tor- 

 rents must have been responsible for such a state of affairs. China cannot hope 

 lo harness her water or regnhitt' her streams until lliese torrents are ^topped, .im"! 



