INFLUENCE OF THE FOKEST ON SPEINGS. 223 



were clothed with a dense forest, have been almost entirely 

 stripped of trees ; and to the wonder and loss of the mill-owners, 

 the water in the pond has failed, except in the season of freshets ; 

 and, what was never heard of before, the stream itseK has been 

 entu-ely dry. Within the last ten yeai's a new growth of wood 

 has sprung up on most of the land formerly occupied by the old 

 forest ; and now the water runs through the year, notwithstand- 

 ing the great droughts of the last few years, going back from 

 1856." 



Dr. Piper quotes from a letter of William C. Bryant the fol- 

 lowing remarks : " It is a common observation that our summers 

 are becoming drier and our streams smaller. Take the Cuyahoga 

 as an illustration. Fifty years ago large barges loaded with goods 

 went up and down that river, and one of the vessels engaged in 

 the battle of Lake Erie, in which the gallant Perry was victorious, 

 was built at Old Portage, six miles north of Albion, and floated 

 down to the lake. Now, in an ordinary stage of the water, a 

 canoe or skiff can hardly pass down the stream. Many a boat of 

 fifty tons burden has been built and 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 Ami des Sciences 

 for December, 1859, are as nearly conclusive as any single in- 

 stance well can be : 



" In the territory of the commune of Labruguiere 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 1,243 metres [4,140 feet], and 

 the inclination ranges between 15 and 60 to 100. 



* The Trees of America, pp. 50, 51. 



