THE NEW EARTH 



for packing-cases and barrels. The average 

 price paid by dealers for this wood, for selected 

 stock, is twenty-two dollars per thousand feet ; 

 while, for fuel, the cottonwood is worth three 

 dollars per cord when oak is worth five dollars. 



The flood land is generally so low that the 

 roots of the trees find abundant moisture, and 

 all the conditions are favorable to an ultimate 

 and complete water or flood check. The banks 

 once held in place, the water keeps its course, 

 and the surrounding country is saved. In a 

 single year, in 1903, in the Kansas region of 

 the West, more than two million acres of land 

 were covered with water, property was de- 

 stroyed approximating forty million dollars in 

 value, and nearly one hundred lives were lost. 

 Not only were crops destroyed and vast dam- 

 age wrought, but many fields had to be per- 

 manently abandoned on account of the washing 

 away of their soil; while fertile fields on the 

 lower lands were completely destroyed by the 

 deposit of white sand from the floods, cover- 

 ing the land from a few inches to several feet 

 in depth. 



In addition to the value of the trees in pre- 

 venting escape of water, they serve to break 



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