34 



of moisture to the atmosphere have been drained, 

 the rain as it falls sinks rapidly into the cleared 

 lands, is carried off immediately by surface drainage, 

 and as a result the atmosphere as it blows over these 

 lands is no longer kept in its normal condition, or 

 supplied with moisture from the soil through gradual 

 and natural evaporation, but rather yields moisture 

 to the soil to produce an equilbrium, and when this 

 atmosphere reaches the mountains of this State and 

 is forced up to the altitude of from 3,000 feet to 

 4,000 feet, the moisture which it contains is not suffi- 

 cient to be condensed into rain, but like a dry sponge 

 it withdraws or soaks up moisture from the soil in 

 order that it may be restored to its normal condition. 



The same is equally true as to the forests which 

 thirty or forty years ago abounded in the States ly- 

 ing west of us, and which to a greater or less extent 

 have yielded to the lumberman's axe, or have been 

 destroyed that the land might be opened to cultiva- 

 tion. The amount of moisture which scientists tell us 

 is evaporated annually from every tree is almost be- 

 yond comprehension, and in addition the destruction 

 of every tree submits the soil, which had been pro- 

 tected by its shade and had yielded moisture by 

 gradual evaporation, to the direct rays of the sun. 



Does not the clearing of every acre of the original 

 prairie, the draining of every swamp, and the cutting 

 of every tree in the vast region of this country lying 

 west of the water sheds of the State of New York, 

 through which the earth is exposed to the direct rays 

 of the sun, constitute an unit in the process of the 

 destruction of the water supply of our streams, and 

 if so, would not the planting of every tree constitute 

 an unit of force in the opposite direction ? 



If there is any force in the above theory, and if 

 it is sustained by the facts, then it must necessarily 



