368 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



Sand-dunes have been created by forest removal 

 on all parts of our sea-shore ; uneven water stages 

 have been aggravated in all the older parts of the 

 Union ; soil washes can be seen in all the mountain 

 and hill country, especially in the Southern states, 

 with their abandoned or mismanaged farm lands. 



In the Western mountains, where fires are more 

 destructive on account of the coniferous composi- 

 tion and the dry climate, and where the pasturing 

 of sheep in the forests prevents ready reestablish- 

 ment of vegetation, the results are even more 

 readily observed. 



We are experiencing droughts, we are suffering 

 from floods, we have uneven seasons ; but how 

 much of these conditions is to be ascribed to our 

 forest conditions, how much to general cosmic 

 causes, nobody can determine. At any rate these 

 conditions can be discussed and corrected only for 

 definite local points. We have, perhaps, nowhere 

 as yet come to such state of affairs as those re- 

 ported from the high Alps of France, Switzerland, 

 Austria, and Italy, but a continuance of our 

 present disregard of the soil cover must inevitably 

 lead to them. 



Meanwhile the supply question is the more im- 

 portant, and attention to this, leading to the practice 

 of silviculture, will naturally also incidentally cor- 

 rect the evils of denudation. 



