50 FOREST LANDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 



Professor SWAIN. That is exactly what we wish to have occur. 

 We want to have the forest bed absorb the water and thereby give it 

 out as a benefit. 



The CHAIRMAN. His argument is this, that after a long-protracted 

 drought the streams get no benefit whatever of the small showers that 

 fall during that interval, as they would if the forests were not there, 

 but the forest itself is giving out no water, suffering from the general 

 drought; that the humus and the leaves of the trees themselves take 

 up this shower and give none of it back to the streams. 



Professor SWAIN. The answer to that is, perhaps, another ques- 

 tion, What happens when there are no showers which fall on those 

 areas during the summer? We had an example of that in New Eng- 

 land and over a large section of country this summer. We had a 

 drought in New England during a period much longer, preventing 

 the water from running from the extreme headwaters of any of the 

 streams to the sea. Colonel Chittenden's idea seemed to be that he 

 admits that the forests keep up the flow of springs, and he says that 

 because each spring is small you can have all of them dry up without 

 appreciable effect, and then he goes on to say that the showers will 

 come on the denuded areas you have on this watershed, and then the 

 next, and then the next, in such a way as to be properly timed, you 

 will keep up the low water flow. That will hardly be a safe method 

 to depend on. 



The CHAIRMAN. The drought throughout New England and other 

 Eastern States this year was more severe than had been known for 

 one hundred years, practically. 



Professor SWAIN. I do not know ; it has been very severe. 



The CHAIRMAN. It is not sought to create the impression here that 

 the conditions which prevailed this year were due solely to the denuda- 

 tion of the forests? 



Professor SWAIN. No; but aggravated by the denudation of the 

 forests. 



Mr. HARVEY. I would like to announce, gentlemen, that as there are 

 quite a number who are anxious to be heard from, I shall be obliged 

 to request each gentleman in the future to confine himself within five 

 minutes, and I shall tap on the table when the five minutes are used 

 up and give him about half a minute within which to close. 



STATEMENT OF MR. W. S. LEE, HYDRAULIC ENGINEER, OF 

 CHARLOTTE, N. C. 



Mr. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I want to confine my remarks to two 

 questions, which you have asked us to discuss. The first is the flow 

 of the streams in the Appalachian Mountains, regarding the clearing 

 of the timber from any particular stream. I have been at work for 

 several years on different hydraulic problems there, and the first 

 thing that we do to ascertain the flow is to get some idea of the tim- 

 bered section that that stream is running through, and you will find 

 that streams down in North Carolina, upper South Carolina, and 

 Tennessee will vary in the flow per square mile of run-off that is, 

 in cubic feet per second from 1.2 cubic feet down to 0.28 of a cubic 

 foot, with practically the same rainfall on the entire area. The 

 stream that is in the most heavily wooded section furnishes about 



