838 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Photograph by Frank N. Meyer 



ABOVE THE CITY OF CHIEH CHOU 



View of the deforested mountains and the big dike the people have 

 built to prevent a small mountain stream, which carried down much mud 

 and stony debris from over-running their city. 



by the floods, and that in these hsien there are as many 

 as 5,611,759 sufferers who are either homeless or starving. 



"When we come to think of prosperous and peaceful 

 Switzerland as having a population of only 3,425,000 and 

 an area of 15,975 square miles as compared with 5,611,749 

 sufferers and 15,000 square miles of flooded districts 

 here, we at once comprehend the severity and the extent 

 of devastation by the floods; and it is no wonder that 

 they have been called phenomenal floods or something 

 that Chihli province has not experienced for the last 

 170 years. 



"Dr. P. E. Licent, a well-known scientist, who con- 

 ducted perhaps a more scientific investigation through the 

 flooded districts than anybody else, said: 'It is to be 



Photograph by Frank N. Meyer 



VIEW FROM THE LARGE DIKE 



This looks over the city of Chieh Chou, Kansu, China, and shows how 

 much lower the streets are than the brim of the dike. By digging a 

 small canal and by reforestation, the situation would be enormously 

 improved. 



feared that next fall there will be another big flood 

 around Tientsin, because the five rivers in this province 

 are badly silted up and the embankments are in bad 

 repair. For instance, along the Tze-ya Ho from Sien- 

 hsien to Tientsin, I saw twelve places at which the em- 

 bankments are broken. Now it is on account of a long 

 continued deforestation which has deprived the different 

 watersheds of their protective covering that all these 

 rivers have become silted up.' Then pointing to the map, 

 he continued : T was traveling in the mountains near 

 Paotingfu last August, and I saw hundreds of corpses 

 washed down with houses, dead cattle, bowlders, etc., by 

 the terrific torrents. In one place called Tai Lun Mung 

 near Chochow, I saw eighty-four corpses floating grue- 

 somely on a little pond. The terrible mountain torrents 

 must have been responsible for such a state of affairs. 

 China cannot hope to harness her water or regulate her 

 streams until these torrents are stopped and to stop them 

 permanently a systematic program of reforestation must 

 be carried out.' " 



The conditions caused by these floods tend to become 

 steadily worse, as indicated by Dr. Licent. The river 



Photograph by Frank N. Meyer 



THE HEI SHUI KIANG 



OR BLACK-WATER RIVER 



It passes the city of Chieh Chou and runs along mountains which have 

 been totally deforested. As a result many landslides take place in the 

 rainy season and the city is always in danger of being destroyed by 

 the river. 



beds become completely filled with great masses of sand 

 and silt, and the mountain slopes become furrowed into 

 deep gullies through which the torrents roar in foaming, 

 boulder strewn crests after every downpour. Mr. Lin 

 cites the well known physical law that the carrying power 

 of water increases as the sixth power of its velocity, so 

 that an increase to ten times the rate of flow multiplies 

 the power of the stream to transport mud and rocks by 

 one million. This detritus in turn tears out and deepens 

 the gullies, thus concentrating and increasing the velocity 

 of the water. The vicious circle thus established has 

 the most appalling results, and the devastation by a single 

 flood of an area whose population and resources are 

 equal to Switzerland, is the logical consequence. 



Among the many citations quoted by Mr. Lin to show 

 that reforestation alone offers a permanent solution of 



