294 INFLUENCE OF WOODLANDS UPON STEEAMS. 



distant from a region where summer showers are of common occurrence 

 and a drought is not felt. This has been observed for several summers 

 in succession, and will probably continue so long as these conditions 

 remain. 



An effect quite similar to the above, is described by the authors of a 

 memorial addressed to the legislature of Maine,' upon the necessity of 

 adopting measures for the protection of forests in that State, in which, 

 according to erroneous po-pular opinion, there exists an abundance of 

 timber for an indefinite period of time. 



There is a portion of Hancock County (Maine) along tLe coast, tbat is now nearly 

 (leuuded of trees. Daring the heat of summer the radiation from the parched surface 

 affects the atmosphere to excessive dryness. The electrical rain-bearing clouds that 

 .approach from the westward, as they como within Ibis dry atmosphere, are absorbed 

 and dissipated before their watery contents can reach the earth, while the clouds just 

 north of them lloat on over a better wooded district and yield copious rainfall; and 

 on the other hand, the showers continue abundant in the more humid atmosphere of 

 the contiguous bays and ocean. The observing seafaring inhabitants of that district, 

 after years of perjilexity over the fact and the hidden cause, at last inquired in all 

 seriousness, whether a telegraph wire, located to the north of them, does not unfairly 

 " switch off" the showers that rightfully belong to them. 



The commissioners who prepared a report on the disastrous effects of 

 the destruction of forest-trees in Wisconsin (1SG7) observe that — 



In the hot and dry plains of our southwestern territories we often see clouds parsing 

 overhead that reserve their contents until they have passed from these almost desert 

 regions. These clouds frequently present all the actual appearance of rain in the 

 higher region of the atmosphere, and the fLirtilo-giving drops are been to fall far down 

 toward tno earth, only to bo dissolved and dissipated in the lower strata of the air, 

 heated by the reflection from the parched earth which these rain-drops did not roach. 



In 1873 Herr Gustave Wex, councillor of state, and chief director 

 of works undertaken for improving the Danube, i)ublished a paper- 

 embracing many points of interest, relating to the diminution of water 

 in wells and streams, and the depth of water in rivers, which he as- 

 cribed to the clearing off of forests. He presented long series of annual 

 observations made by river-gauges, tending to show that the volume of 

 water has very sensibly decreased in the period covered. by these records. 

 In the Ehine at Emmerich, in the years from 1770 to iSJo,^ the mean 

 depth of the first ten years was 11 Prussian feet and LI inches, and in 

 the last ten years C feet 9.2 inches. The decrease in the Elbe, the Oder, 

 tbe Vistula, and the Danube had also been considerable, and apparently 

 from a common cause. In these studies he arrived at the same conclu- 

 sions as those published some years since by Dr. Berghaus, although 

 some have attempted to explain these differences by ascribing the 

 changes to other causes, such as modification in the river's bed and tbe 

 like. 



With respect to high floods, it appeared evident that these rivers 

 deliver much more water in recent times than in the earlier years. From 

 diagrams that accompany the paper under notice, it is made apparent, 

 that in former times the rise in consecutive years was more uniform, 

 while in later years a very high flood may follow a year of low water. 

 The alternations of wet and dry years are more frequent and irregular, 

 and the extremes of each are greater than were before known. These 



i See Beport Maine Board of Agriculture, 1869, page 82. This memorial is signed by 

 Calvin Chamberlain, of Foxcroffc, and Samuel L. Goodale, of York. 



- Ueherdie Wasserabnahme in den Quellen, Fliiasen icnd Stromen, hei gleichzeitiger Sieigerung 

 der Rochwasser in den Culturlundcrn. Separate imprint from the '' Zeitschri/t dcs osferrei- 

 diischen Ingenieur- und Architekten- Vereins," II., IV., and VI. numbers. 1873. 4to. pp. 41, 

 with 7 plates. 



3 The years 1794, 1795, 1811, and 1812 are not given. 



