AFFORESTATION OF WATERWORKS CATCH.MEXT AREAS. 229 



water companies are planting extensively in the Eastern States. Among the 

 most important of these are the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board of 

 Massachusetts, which is planting on the watershed of its immense reservoir 

 at Clinton, Mass., and the water department of the Citj' of Woonsocket, R.I. 

 In both cases the planting is being done in co-operation with the Bureau of 

 Forestry. The water companies supplying the cities of New Haven and 

 Hartford, Conn,, are also planting large tracts about their reservoirs under 

 plans prepared by the Director ot the Yale Forest School, and the City of 

 MiddletowD, Conn., is similarly planting under directions from the State 

 Forester." 



Again, on page 143 of the same report it is stated : — 



" In the case of the mountain slopes upon which planting is being done, 

 the importance of a forest cover in conserving the water-supply for the cities 

 of Los Angeles and Pasadena and contiguous country is considered so great 

 that the Los Angeles County Forest and Water Association and the Pasadena 

 Board of Trade have contributed liberally toward the work. The planting 

 gives promise of excellent results." 



The following is an extract from the Report of the Secretary 

 of Agriculture on ihe Forests and Rivers of the Appalachian 

 Region : — 



"The perpetuation of the streams and the maintenance of their regular 

 How, so as to prevent floods and maintain their water-powers, are among the 

 j)rime objects of forest perservation in the southern Appalachians. Nothing 

 illustrates the need of this more fully than the fact that on the neighbouring 

 streams, lying wholly within the Piedmont plateau, where the forests have 

 been cleared from areas aggregating from 60 to 80 per cent, of the whole, 

 floods are frequent and excessive. During the seasons of protracted drought 

 some of the smaller streams almost disappear, and the use of water-power 

 along their course is either abandoned or largely supplemented by steam- 

 power. 



"To-day the larger valuable water-powers in the South Atlantic region 

 are mainly limited to the streams which have their sources among the 

 Southern Appalachian Mountains ; and the waters of these streams show a 

 striking uniformity of flow as compared with the streams lying wholly within 

 the adjacent lowland country, where forest clearing has been excessive. 

 While the rainfall is somewhat greater in the mountain region, it is a 

 question of the regularity rather than the volume of flow, and this depends 

 upon the water storage. The soil in the one region is as deep as in the others, 

 and the slopes being gentler in the low country, other things being equal, 

 the water would soak into it the more easily. In the mountain region itself 

 the flow of the streams along which proportionately large clearings have been 

 made, has become decidedly more irregular, and the flood damages have 

 greatly exceeded those along other streams where the forests have not been 

 disturbed. The problem resolves itself into one of a forest cover for the 

 soil." 



