FORES! i:v 



230 



great floods that occur each year in our rivers are, in 

 a large measure, «lue to the cutting away of the forest 

 about the sources of the rivers. There being no trees 

 to stop its (low, the water rushes away in gullies to 



increase the volume of creeks and rivers. The dreadful 

 floods that take place eaeh year in (he gi< -sippi 



River are no douht made worse by the cutting away of 

 the forests which surround its headwaters. There is 

 every reason to believe that the floods in this river will 

 grow worse as more of the forest in the valleys is cut 

 away. 



prevent in a great measure the surface 

 evaporation which takes away such vast quantir 

 water from treeless soil. Through surface evaporation 

 and rarface washing, soil> from which trees have bees 

 cut, nnleai continually cultivated, are apt to suflVr. The 

 cutting of timber is often followed by forest tires that 

 destroy the undergrowth, leaving the soil bare to the 

 action of wind and rain. In this condition it 

 moisture, loses fertility, and quickly becomes waste 

 hind. The cut tin- sway of forests always lessens the 

 water supply. 



(4) Forests are a great protection against wind- 

 storm-: the] protect cultivated crops from both the 



cold wind- of winter and the hot, drying winds of 

 summer. 



223. Destruction of Forests. — Vast numbers of trees 



t every year for timber, and often the cutting is 



so carelessly done that many yonag trees are injured 



or de The modern process of manufacturing 



paper from wood pulp is also responsible for the 



