NE\YS AM) \< >TES 



403 



forests will be if present methods con- 

 tinue. 



Cnn-ul ( ieneral Skinner concludes hi^ 

 report with the suggestion to those in 

 America who have- -hown Mifficient in- 

 tere-t in the matter to write him on the 

 -ubject : 



"If correspondents could penetrate, 

 as the writer has done, the almost in- 

 accessible mountain villages of this 

 country, and there discover the en- 

 thusiastic French forester at work, ap- 

 plying scientific methods which cannot 

 come to fruition before two or three 

 hundred years, they would retire full of 

 admiration and surprise and carry the 

 U-- -on back to the United States.'' 



The American Nile . 



THE Geological Survey has pub- 

 lished (in Water-supply Paper No. 

 21 1 ) a most interesting comparison of 

 the Nile, the Colorado, which has been 

 called the Nile of America, and the 

 Susquehanna. The Nile and Colorado 

 are similar in type, and the Susquehan- 

 na is introduced to show the difference 

 in flow between arid and humid re- 

 gions. The comparison uses a normal 

 year based upon records for the Colo- 

 rado and Susquehanna, collected by the 

 Survey in the last ten years, and such 

 data as could be found in regard to the 

 Nile. The Colorado is taken as the 

 standard of comparison. 



The Nile has 5.7 times the drainage 

 area and the Susquehanna about one- 

 eighth the area of the- Colorado. 



The rainfall in the Nile basin is 3.8 

 times greater : that in the Susquehanna 

 basin i- 4.5 time- greater. The run-ott 

 per square mile from the Nile ba-in i- 

 i.ij times greater; that from the Su-- 

 quehanna ba-in i- thirty-seven time- 

 greater. The ratio of run-off to rain- 

 fall in the Nile basin is one-half a- 



-reat; that of the Su-quchanna lia-in i- 

 S._> times greater. 



The di-chargc of the Nile i- IO.8 

 times greater; that of the Su-qiiehanna 

 is 4.5 times greater. 



The maximum |]o\v of the Nile i- 

 about three hundred fifty-three thou- 

 .-and second-feet, and occur- about the 

 fir-t of September; that of the Colo- 

 rado i- from -cventv thousand to one 

 hundred ten thousand second-feet, and 

 occurs in May. June, or July; that of 

 the Su-quehanna is from two hundred 

 thousand to four hundred thoii-and 

 second-feet, and occurs during March. 

 April, and May. 



The minimum flow of the Nile is 

 about fourteen thousand five hundred 

 second feet, and occurs about the end 

 of May ; that of the Colorado i- from 

 two thousand five hundred to three 

 thousand second-feet, and occurs dur- 

 ing January and February ; that of the 

 Susquehanna is from two thousand five 

 hundred to five thousand second-feet, 

 and occurs in September and October. 



The mean flow of the Nile is about 

 one hundred fifteen thousand eight hun- 

 dred second-feet, of the Colorado 

 about ten thousand seven hundred 

 second-feet, of the Susquehanna about 

 forty-three thousand second-feet. 



K-timates of the amount of -ediment 

 carried by the Nile and Susquehanna 

 are not given, but the water of tin- 

 Colorado i- -aid to carry an immen-e 

 amount reaching as high a- two thou- 

 -and parts of -ediment to one hundred 

 thousand parts of water. Prof. R. H. 

 Forbes, in a bulletin of the Ari/otia 

 \-ricultural Experiment Station, state-- 

 that "it i- e-timated conservatively that 

 the river brought down during 1000 

 about sixty-one million ton- of -edi 

 mentary material, which, condensed to 

 the form of -Hd rock, i- enough to 

 COVer _ >( >.4 -qnare mile- one f<* >t deep, 

 or to make about 104 square miles of 

 recently -ettled -ubmerged mud one 

 f' " >t deep." 



