298 ARBOR DAY 



spring, situated at the foot of a mountain which was 

 covered with wood. By degrees the spring became 

 less copious, and at length failed. While its waters 

 were annually diminishing in bulk, the mountain 

 had been gradually cleared of its forest. The disap- 

 pearance of the spring was attributed to the clearing. 

 The mountain was again planted, and as the new 

 growth of wood increased, the spring reappeared, 

 and finally attained its original fulness. More to 

 be dreaded than drought, and produced by the same 

 cause the clearing of steep declivities of their 

 wood are the excessive inundations to which all 

 parts of the country are subject. 



It it were in the power of man to dispose his woods 

 and tillage in the most advantageous manner, he 

 might not only produce an important amelioration 

 of the general climate, but he might diminish the 

 frequency and severity both of droughts and 

 inundations, and preserve the general fulness of 

 streams. If every man were to pursue that course 

 which would protect his own grounds from these 

 evils, it would be sufficient to bring about this bene- 

 ficent result. If each owner of land would keep all 

 his hills and declivities, and all slopes that contain 

 only a thin deposit of soil or a quarry, covered with 

 forest, he would lessen his local inundations from 

 vernal thaws and summer rains. Such a covering 

 of wood tends to equalize the moisture that is dis- 

 tributed over the land, causing it, when showered 



