Forestry and Government 173 



percolates the ground. Necessarily, where the snow 

 is all drifted together in certain localities, while the 

 rest of the ground is bare, a much smaller percentage 

 of the water has a chance to enter the soil than 

 where the whole ground is covered and every 

 square inch of it can absorb its share of moisture. 

 The water so entering the soil is the source from 

 which the springs and smaller watercourses receive 

 their supply during the summer and continue to 

 feed the larger streams long after even the snow 

 masses of the ravines are melted. 



There is a way of utilizing forests for the benefit 

 of the community which comes properly, perhaps, 

 within the province of the municipal and other 

 local authorities rather than the State and federal 

 governments. Forests are not merely places where 

 raw material for human industries is produced, 

 nor tracts of land which protect mountain sides 

 from over-erosion and regulate the water-flow of 

 the streams. They are also the great play-grounds 

 of nations, where thousands flock to gain new 

 health and vigor, physical, intellectual, and moral, 

 and find a temporary escape from the strain and 

 stress of modern civilized existence. The sports- 

 man with rod and gun, the lover of scenery and 

 outdoor life, would feel it a serious deprivation if 

 he were robbed of the privilege of enjoying the cool 

 shades of the forest. To the inhabitants of the 

 regions where the forests are, the annual arrival of 

 the city people, as tourists or summer residents, is 

 a very important matter of dollars and cents. Not 



