1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



409 



Coast. It is often of extreme violence, 

 as much as 8 inches having fallen in 

 eleven hours, 31 inches in one month, 

 and 105 inches in a year. 



"3. The soil, once denuded of its 

 forests and swept by torrential rains, 

 rapidly loses first its humus, then its 

 rich upper strata, and finally is washed 

 in enormous volume into the streams, 

 to bury such of the fertile lowlands as 



to the Mississippi. Along their courses 

 are agricultural, water-power, and 

 navigation interests whose preserva- 

 tion is absolutely essential to the well- 

 being of the nation. 



"5. The regulation of the flow of 

 these rivers can be accomplished only 

 by the conservation of the forests. 



"6. These are the heaviest and most 

 beautiful hard-wood forests of the 



Valley Lands Badly Washed by Floods. 



These fertile lands in the Southern Appalachians will all be washed away in a few decades 

 unless the forests on the mountain slopes are protected. 



are not eroded by the floods, to ob- 

 struct the rivers, and to fill up the 

 harbors on the coast. More good soil 

 is now washed from these cleared 

 mountain-side fields during a single 

 heavy rain than during centuries under 

 forest cover. 



"4. The rivers which originate in 

 the Southern Appalachians flow into 

 or along the edges of every State from 

 Ohio to the Gulf and from the Atlantic 



continent. In them species from rust 

 and west, from north and south- 

 mingle in a growth of unparalleled 

 richness and variety. They contain 

 many species of the first commercial 

 value, and furnish important supplies 

 which can not be obtained from any 

 other region. 



"7. For economic reasons the pre- 

 servation of these forests is imperative. 

 Their existence in good condition is 



