1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



505 



the young growth, which would other- 

 wise in course of time replenish the 

 supply. The logs when cut are 

 "snaked" downhill by mule team, soon 

 cutting a deep channel in the earth, 

 which the waters from the first rain- 

 storm turn into a yawning gully that 

 rapidly spreads in extent. The tops 

 and those parts of the trunk unsuit- 

 able for lumber are left on the ground 

 to furnish fuel for the first fire or a 

 breeding place for insects destructive 

 to tree life. 



In addition to the lumbering opera- 

 tions, the tan-bark industry is mak- 

 ing great inroads on forest growth. 

 Every year thousands of cords of bark 

 are stripped in these mountains, and 

 each load means that some giant of 

 the forest has been felled and lies use- 

 less, for. the trunks are rarely used for 

 timber, the expense of transporting 

 them to the mills from the high moun- 

 tain slopes being in most cases prohi- 

 bitive. 



But great as is the work of the lum- 

 berman in this forest destruction, his 

 part has in the past been small when 

 compared with that of the forest fire 

 and that of the farmer in clearing 

 land for agricultural purposes. Forest 

 fires have been one of the great curses 

 in the southern Appalachians as truly 

 as elsewhere in the country. They 

 were common in the days of Indian 

 occupation. Thus, they have preceded 

 the lumberman, but they have also 

 accompanied him and followed in his 

 wake. Their work has been rendered 

 far more destructive because the lum- 

 berman has left his brush scattered 

 among the remaining growth in such 

 a way that in the burning it has fed 

 the fire. 



In some regions these fires have de- 

 stroyed the forests entirely. Especial- 

 ly has this been the case where the 

 soil has been thin and composed large- 

 ly of humus. The fire has destroyed 

 this humus and the remaining soil has 

 soon washed away, leaving the trees 

 on the bare surface of rock, to dry 

 out and die. Even under more favor- 

 able conditions these fires have de- 



stroyed the undergrowth, and the larg- 

 er trees have been burned near their 

 roots in such a way as to cause their 

 destruction. The repeated fires have 

 frequently exterminated the grasses 

 and other forage plants, so that in- 

 stead of improving the pasturage, 

 which has often been the object in 

 starting the forest fire, the result has 

 been, in the course of years, its almost 

 total destruction. 



This burning of the humus and the 

 undergrowth in the forests always se- 

 riously affects the flow of the streams. 

 No one who has ever been in a forest 

 during a heavy rain-storm can fail to 

 realize this fact. In the virgin forests 

 the raindrops are caught by the under- 

 brush and pass downward through the 

 humus into the less porous soil and 

 the rock fissures beneath, to reappear 

 weeks and months later in the form of 

 numberless springs. But where this 

 underbrush and humus have been 

 burned away, one can not fail to see 

 that during a heavy rain storm much 

 less of the water soaks directly into 

 the soil, and the remainder flows down 

 the surface with a velocity varying 

 with the slope, sometimes washing the 

 soil into small furrows and gullies. 

 Hence, the burning of this humus de- 

 creases the storage of water in the soil 

 and causes the more rapid accumula- 

 tion of this water in the brooks, and 

 results in floods in the larger streams 

 below. 



Following in the wake of the forest 

 fire in this connection is the farmer, 

 who is continually clearing the moun- 

 tain slopes for agricultural purposes. 

 Instead of trying to improve his soil 

 in the valley and on the adjacent 

 slopes he has for years followed the 

 policy of clearing additional patches 

 on the mountain side as rapidly as 

 others are worn out and abandoned. 

 Each one of these hillside fields must 

 be abandoned in from three to five 

 years, as their productiveness is short- 

 lived. After the trees have been 

 girdled and the underbrush has been 

 destroyed, such a field may be planted- 

 in corn for one or two years, then in 



