DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 193 



have been cut off, the streams have often been so reduced as, at certain 

 seasons of the year, almost to disappear. And, in the case of streams, 

 whether large or small, the result has been to produce floods "when the 

 suows melt in spring-time, or after heavy rains, to be followed by a greatly 

 diminished flow of water afterwards, especially in those seasons of the 

 year when rains are least frequent and copious. 



xVs to the direct influence of forests in producing rain or increasing 

 its amount in their immediate vicinity, and their consequent favorable 

 effect upon agriculture and the supply of water for springs and streams, 

 although the preponderance of evidence at present seems to favor the 

 conclusion that they have such an influence, further observation and 

 careful and extended experiment are necessary before this can be con- 

 sidered definitely and conclusively settled. 



Hardly anything, however, can be regarded as being better settled, 

 by extended observation, than that the forests are great regulators of the 

 distribution of the water precipitated from the clouds and consequently 

 of the flow of streams. By their shade and by the obstruction which 

 they offer to sweeping winds, they lessen the evaiwration which would 

 otherwise carry off speedily from the ground much of the rainfall, 

 while the loose, spongy soil, formed by the accumulation of their fallen 

 leaves, absorbs the water precipitated from the sky or produced by the 

 melting of the winter's snow, and causes it to flow off gradually into the 

 channels of the streams instead of being allowed to flood them at once 

 and produce at times devastating torrents. It is a well-established fact, 

 obvious to all whose observation reaches through any considerable 

 period of time, that with the clearing away of the forests' to secure land 

 for agricultural purposes or to convert them into lumber, the lesser 

 streams have diminished in volume and the larger streams for this rea- 

 son have become less navigable, and therefore less available for com- 

 merce. Instances might be adduced without difficulty of saw-mills 

 and other wood-working establishments, which have been erected upon 

 streams flowing through or near forests, with the design of using the 

 material near at hand, where the process of cutting away the trees has 

 so diminished the amount of water that the requisite power has failed, 

 and the owners have been compelled to build new dams and duplicate 

 their machinery so as to use the diminished water-supply a second time 

 as the only means of continuing their business. The manufacturers on 

 many of our streams have been obliged thus to duplicate their ma- 

 chinery, or to build reservoirs at great cost, in which to store up the 

 superabundant water of flood-times for use in times of drought, or to 

 suijplement their deficient water-power by the introduction of the aux- 

 iliary i^ower of steam. 



Four years ago the State of !N"cw Hampshire appointed an able com- 

 mission to inquire into the extent to which the forests of the State were 

 being destroyed, and the effect produced by their destruction upon rain- 

 fall, ponds, and streams. This commission, after protracted and ex- 

 tensive 'inquiry, has recently made its report, which is one of great 

 value, not only for the people of Xew Hampshire, but for those of many 

 other States. For the purpose of ascertaining the facts of the case the 

 commission sent out circulars to the town authorities andto many others, 

 especially of the older inhabitants, asking them whether the amount of 

 water in the streams, ponds, and springs in their vicinity had dimin- 

 ished within their remembrance; and, if so, whether the removal of the 

 woods and forests had anything to do with it. From the replies to these 

 circulars it is very clear that the destruction of the forests has had 

 serious effects. Among the facts reported the following may bo taken 

 13 AO— '85 



