The Value of Forests 15 



While it is no doubt true that the supply of material is 

 the most apparent good we get from the forest, it is like- 

 wise true that there are certain other values which are also 

 very important. One of these, which very frequently es- 

 capes our notice, is the effect which it has on preserving 

 and equalizing the moisture. Our rivers take their rise 

 in hilly or marshy regions, generally where the snowfall 

 is somewhat heavy. If this snow melts rapidly in the 

 spring, before the frost is out of the ground, the streams 

 become flooded, sometimes to the point of doing damage ; 

 and the water supply caused by the melting snow which 

 should, if properly conserved, help to supply moisture 

 during the summer, very quickly runs off. If, however, 

 the region surrounding the sources of the streams is well 

 wooded, the case will be different. Very often the snow- 

 fall will prevent the ground from being frozen to any great 

 depth. In the spring this snow remains longer than it 

 would without the protection of the trees. While it is 

 slowly melting, the ground beneath it thaws and the water 

 gradually soaks into the soil. Only the surplus, after the 

 ground has been thoroughly saturated, is drained off in the 

 spring freshet. This water, supplied by the melting snow, 

 raises the general water level in the ground over the whole 

 district and gradually seeps out during the summer in 

 springs, making the supply in wells and streams more uni- 

 form during the season. The level of the water in the soil 

 being raised, it is easier for moisture to reach the roots 

 of the plants from beneath. 



Observations in Europe have shown that, of the rain 



