91 



evaporation. The unevenness of the forest floor, with sunken logs and 

 piles of debris, prevents the formation of gullies and consequently the 

 water sinks into the ground instead of running off on the surface. It can 

 not wear away the soil upon steep slopes, nor form sudden and disastrous 

 fi-eshets as in a naked and treeless region. The streams rising in wood- 

 lands may swell after a rain, hut more gradually, and they will subside 

 again more slowly. If they rise in woodland swamps, they are scarcely 

 liable to floods at any season and tend to an even floAV throughout the 

 year. 



The soil of Montgomery County is generally very rich and the disas- 

 trous effect of the removal of the forest will not be evident for many 

 years. The land is especially adapted for agi-icultural pursiiits, and ra- 

 tional farming and rotation of crops is doing much to maintain its pro- 

 ductiveness. Yet some tracts have been cleared w^hich are of very little 

 use for farming purposes, and fail to yield a profit for the labor exerted 

 upon them. We have seen large areas of good timber cut down, much of 

 it wasted and destroyed, merely to add to the farm land an area almost 

 worthless for cultivation. Such land should be immediately reforested 

 with the most profitable kinds of timber, since l»y this means the most 

 profitable returns can be secured. 



An examination of our corn crop yields since 1873 shows the follow- 

 ing gains: 



1873-1877 24 bushels per acre. 



1878-1882 31 bushels per acre. 



1883-1888 37 bushels per acre. 



1889-1893 32 bushels per acre. 



1894-1900 42 bushels per acre. 



In considering these figures we must remenil)er tliat much newly 

 cleared land, rich from forest litter, has been added yearly and tends to 

 increase the average yield per acre. 



Our wheat crops have not fared so fortunately and the averages for 

 five year periods since 1872 show the following decrease: 



1872-187G 21.18 bushels per acre. 



1877-1881 15.45 bushels per acre. 



1882-1886 14.21 bushels per acre. 



1887-1891 13.10 bushels per acre. 



1892-189G 13.30 bushels per acre. 



1897-1900 , , . . .11.60 bushels per acre, 



