80 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



Summarizing the present knowledge of forest 

 influences and viewing it from the standpoint of 

 the practical economist, it will appear that there is 

 sufficient evidence of the value of properly located 

 forest areas, as affecting at least water and soil 

 conditions in a marked degree, and in a minor 

 degree health and climatic conditions, to make the 

 subject of forest conservancy one of great impor- 

 tance. Especially is this the case with the forest 

 cover on mountain sides and in the hill country, 

 where the destructive tendencies of the water are 

 apt to gather force, if not modified by the obstruc- 

 tion of the forest floor. 



It is always to be kept in mind that not the 

 extent, so much as the location and condition of 

 the forest cover is of greatest importance, and that 

 the effect can be determined only with reference 

 to local conditions in every particular case. 



The protection of the soil cover at the head 

 waters of streams thus becomes a concern of state 

 activity, and the* establishment of forest belts in 

 drouth-ridden countries, or the fixation of sand 

 dunes and drifting sands, becomes a public work of 

 internal improvement. 



In the Appendix will be found further details 

 regarding the measured forest influences, in the 

 form of a resume^ taken from Bulletin VII, 

 Forestry Division, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 

 entitled " Forest Influences," 1893, in which this 

 question is exhaustively discussed. 



