82 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY. 



5. A decrease in the healthfullness of the district 

 that borders on the lower courses of such rivers, 

 that is, in those portions which lie in the lowlands 

 near the rivers' mouths. 



6. An increase in the number and severity of 

 hail-storms, both over the areas themselves or in 

 the countries bordering thereon. 



"When the forests are removed from any section 

 of country, that part of the rainfall which for- 

 merly entered the ground, either by gradually 

 sinking into the porous soil, or by running along 

 the branches and trunks of the trees, and so enter- 

 ing and penetrating the more deeply-seated strata, 

 now drains rapidly off the surface. Instead of 

 reaching the river channel quietly and slowly 

 through discharge from the reservoirs of springs, 

 it now rapidly drains directly off the surface into 

 the river channel. 



Instead of draining into the river channel con- 

 tinuously for a period of, say, three weeks, the 

 rain-water now drains into the channel in often a 

 period of as many hours. The channel rapidly 

 fills, the river overflows its banks, and the floods so 

 caused carry loss to the lowlands along the river 

 banks, and, not infrequently, death to the inhabi- 

 tants. 



