RELATIONS OF TREES TO WATER 295 



the nation. As has been shown, the timber on our 

 mountain ranges protects our water supply. Not 

 to speak of changes in climate which might follow 

 the denuding of our mountains, the loss to the 

 irrigated country could not be remedied and the 

 damage to the streams could not be calculated." 



RELATIONS OF TREES TO WATER 



BY WILSON FLAGG 



From A Year Among the Trees 

 THERE is a spot which I used to visit some years 

 ago, that seemed to me one of the most enchanting 

 of natural scenes. It was a level plain of about ten 

 acres, surrounded by a narrow stream that was fed 

 by a steep ridge forming a sort of amphitheatre 

 round more than half its circumference. The ridge 

 was a declivity of near a hundred feet in height, and 

 so steep that you could climb it only by taking hold 

 of the trees and bushes that covered it. The whole 

 surface consisted of a thin stratum of soil deposited 

 upon a slaty rock ; but the growth of trees upon this 

 slope was beautiful and immense, and the water that 

 was constantly trickling from a thousand fountains 

 kept the ground all the year green with mosses and 

 ferns, and gay with many varieties of flowers. The 

 soil was so rich in the meadow enclosed by this ridge, 

 and annually fertilized by the debris washed from the 



