DIVISION OF FORESTRY. l95 



The report of tlie New nnmpshire comraissioncrs confirms the conclii- 

 sious of careful observers everywhere iu regard to the iulliieuce of forests 

 upon the vohime and steadiness of the How of streanis. In Europe the 

 same coiichisions have been reached by the most scientific observers. 

 In 1873 Herr Gustave Wex, chief director of works undertaken for im- 

 proviu<:f the Danube, published a paper in which he argued that the 

 diminution of water in many streams was to be ascribed to the clearing 

 off of forests. He presented a series of annual observations made by 

 means of river-gauges, from which it appeared that in the case of the 

 Ivliine, at Emmerich, f^iom 1770 to 1835, the mean depth for the first ten 

 years was 11 Prussian feet and 4.1 inches, and in the last ten years 6 

 feet 9.2 inches. The decrease in the Elbe, the Oder, the Vistula, and 

 the Danube had also been considerable and apparently from a common 

 caus^. The paper excited much interest, and the author requested the 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences at Vienna to appoint a commission to 

 examine its facts and statements. This was done, and after several ses- 

 sions, in which the commission also took into consideration the argu- 

 ments which had been adduced to explain the facts on a different theory 

 from that of Herr Wex, they made a report fully sustaining his views. 

 The subject was also brought before the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 St. Petersburg, and a commission appointed, who fully confirmed the 

 opinions and conclusions of Herr Wex in regard to the influence of the 

 removal of the forests upon the ilow of streams. 



Corroborative evidence substantiating the opinion of Herr Wex might 

 be adduced from many European sources, as this subject has received 

 much more attention abroad and for a longer period than with us. One 

 source of evidence is to be had there which we cannot yet furnish, be- 

 cause we have so lately begun to plant at all on such a scale that we can 

 draw any conclusions as to the effect of the planting upon climate or 

 rainftill or the flow of springs and streams. But in Europe, where ob- 

 servations have been made for a long time and in a scientific manner, 

 and where great areas of ground have been planted with trees and for- 

 ests re-established in places from which they had been removed, the 

 influence of the forests is susceptible of a double proof, which is most 

 complete and satisfactory. More than two hundred years ago France 

 became concerned for her forests, which were being rapidly consumed, 

 and various regulations were made from time to time for their conser- 

 vation. Arrangements were also made, on liberal terms, for the exten- 

 sion of these regulations to the forests belonging to the communes, where 

 this could be done with their consent. In the Ami des Sciences, of De- 

 cember, 1873, there is given the following statement by M. Cantegril, 

 subinspector of forests : 



Upon tlie territory of the commune of Labruguifere (Tarn) there is a forest of 1,834 

 hectares (4,524 acres), known as tiie forest of Montant, and owned by the commune. 

 It extends northward on the Montaguo-Noir, and the soil is granitic, with a maximum 

 altitude of 1.243 meters, and a slope of from 15 to GO in 100. A little water-course, 

 the Caun.m brook, rises in this forest, and drains the waters of two-thirds of its sur- 

 face. At the entrance of the forest, and along this brook, are located several fulling 

 mills, each requiring 8 horse-power, and moved by water-wheels, which work the 

 boaters of the machines. 



The commune of Labrugui^re had long been noted for its opposition to the forest 

 regulations, and the cutting of wood, together with the abuse of pasturage, had con- 

 verted the forest into an immense waste, so that this great property would hardly pay 

 the cost of guarding it and afford a meager supply for its inhabitants. 



While the forest was thus ruined and the soil denuded tbe waters after each 

 heavy rain swept down through the valley, bringing with them great quantities 

 of gravel, the ddbris of which still encumbers the channel of this stream. The vio- 

 lence of these lloods was sometimes so great that they were compelled to stop the 

 machines for some time. But in the summer time another iuconveziieuce made its 



