INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST ON SPRINGS. 927 
loaded in the Tuscarawas, at New Portage, and sailed to New 
Orleans without breaking bulk. Now, the river hardly affords 
a supply of water at New Portage for the canal. The same 
may be said of other streams—they are drying up. And from 
the same cause—the destruction of our forests—our summers 
are growing drier and our winters colder.” * 
No observer has more carefully studied the influence of the 
forest upon the flow of the waters, or reasoned more ably on 
the ascertained phenomena, than Cantegril. The facts presented 
in the following case, communicated by him to the Amd des 
Sciences for December, 1859, are as nearly conelusive as any 
single instance well can be: 
“Tn the territory of the commune of Labruguiére there is 
a forest of 1,834 hectares [4,530 acres], known by the name of 
the Forest of Montaut, and belonging to that commune. It 
extends along the northern slope of the Black Mountains. The 
soil is granitic, the maximum altitude 1,248 métres [4,140 feet], 
and the inclination ranges between 15 and 60 to 100. 
“A small current of water, the brook of Caunan, takes its 
rise in this forest, and receives the waters of two-thirds of its 
surface. At the lower extremity of the wood and on the 
stream are several fulleries, each requiring a force of eight 
horse-power to drive the water-wheels which work the stamp- 
ers. The commune of Labruguiére had been fora long time 
famous for its opposition to forest laws. Trespasses and abuses 
of the right of pasturage had converted the wood into an im- 
mense waste, so that this vast property now scarcely sufficed to 
pay the expense of protecting it, and to furnish the inhabitants 
with a meagre supply of fuel. While the forest was thus ruined, 
and the soil thus bared, the water, after every abundant rain, 
made an eruption into the valley, bringing down a great quantity 
of pebbles which still clog the current of the Caunan. The 
violence of the floods was sometimes such that they were 
obliged to stop the machinery for some time. During the sum- 
mer another inconvenience was felt. If the dry weather con- 
* The Trees of America, pp. 50, 51. 
