FORESTS AND FLOODS IN CHINA 



839 



these evils which threaten to destroy whole provinces,' is 

 that of Mr. H. Vander Veen, C. E., consulting engineer 

 to the Natural Conservancy Bureau, Pekin. 



"As long as the slope of the water level is such that a 

 current can be maintained strong enough to carry all the 

 matter held in suspension along, no harm is done. But 

 the natural slope of the plain is, for several rivers, insuf- 

 ficient. In such a case the river is therefore forced to 

 get rid of the soil, held in suspension, along its way, con- 

 sequently its bed gets raised and in the long run the river 

 has to find another course, which it does by bursting its 

 dikes to find in the lower lying land the place where it 

 can deposit its burden, which it could carry no longer 

 and for which no more room could be found in the old 

 bed. This is the case more or less with every river run- 

 ning through the plain of China. 



"The only way to diminish this evil is to diminish the 

 amount of soil brought down from the mountains. And 

 the reason for this enormous quantity of silt coming 

 down from the mountains is that those mountains are 

 bare so that during a heavy rain nothing prevents the 

 water from rushing downward practically immediately 

 after it has fallen, taking with it large quantities of soil, 



Photograph by Frank N. Meyer 



THE YELLOW RIVER "CHINA'S SORROW" 



Several hundreds of feet of good cotton land have been eaten away dur- 

 ing a few weeks. Not in vain is the river called "China's Sorrow" for 

 life and property is never quite safe within its immediate neighborhood. 

 Near Chao Yi, Shensi, China. 



so that it reaches the river down below more like torrents 

 of mud than of water. Now if those mountains were 

 planted with trees not only would then the water be 

 unable to take away so much soil but it would also reach 

 the river gradually in a regular flow divided over a 

 longer period and not within a few hours in fierce 

 torrents. 



"It is impossible, therefore, to lay too much stress 

 upon the enormous importance of reafforestation. The 

 deterioration of the various rivers in China and specially 

 of those in this province, would never have reached its 

 present stage if deforestation had not taken place. I say 

 specially the rivers in this province because they all take 

 their rise in the mountains west of the Peking-Hankow 

 line, which for a great part consist of loess, a soil which 

 isily carried away by the rain. 



"To build reservoirs in the hills in order to regulate the 



Photograph by Frank N. Meyer 



INSPIRING MOUNTAIN SCENERY NEAR SHAN HAI KWAI, CHINA 



At the base of the mountain in the foreground of the picture a little 

 growth of pine trees may be observed, otherwise all vegetation has been 

 removed by the Chinese. 



flow of the water, as has sometimes been suggested, is 

 not only far too expensive but moreover wrong as it 

 does not do away with the problem of silt. Sooner or 

 later these reservoirs would become filled, consequently 

 new ones would have to be built, a process which would 

 have to be carried on into eternity. 



"Reafforestation is most imperative, for without re- 

 afforestation the improvement of rivers can only be partly 

 accomplished, but all these processes going hand in hand, 

 the improvement of the hydraulic conditions of the coun- 

 try will be decisive." 



China has been brought to this condition directly by 

 the absence of a national consciousness and of organized 

 methods of government by which the will of the people 



Photograph by Frank X. Meyer 



CARAVAN PASSING THROUGH A FORESTED REGION 



This is at an elevation of about 9,500 fe?t above sea level. The muleteers 

 have just set fire to a bit of dry brushwood, against express orders, and 

 a nice forest of blue spruce and whit.: birch is in full flame near Yang 

 Sa, Kansu, China. 



