218 



THE TREE DOCTOR 



prairies, and one of the most unpleasant things of my subsequent 

 life was to return to the woods of Virginia and find that the old 

 streams and holes we used to swim in and where we used to go 

 fishing are now gravelly roads ! They are highways as dry and 

 arid as the deserts of Arizona or New Mexico. Why is it? Be- 

 cause the trees have been cut down and the springs, the children 



Photo 204, Wild Grandeur. 



of the forests, dried up. Instead of a slow running brook, dig- 

 ging- out holes here and there clear as crystal we have simply 

 a torrent carrying pebbles and sand from the hills, then a desert." 

 From the same pamphlet I quote Mr. J. B. Lippingcott, 

 Supervising Engineer, Reclamation Service : "A striking ex- 

 ample of the output of a barren, treeless, drainage basin is 

 shown in the case of Queen Creek, Arizona. This stream dis- 

 charges only in violent freshets, recurring usually as great flood 

 waves, subsiding almost as rapidly as they arrive. During the 



