166 Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting 
the waters clear and pure, and lastly but most important of all. 
to keep a steady flow. 
Even a narrow fringe of forest along a stream will lend 
beauty to the landscape and suffices to shade the stream if small. 
But to keep the waters clear and pure more must be done, and 
still more is necessary to regulate its flow and maintain an ample 
supply of water. At this point we still make the mistake of 
supposing that the reservation of a few townships at the head of 
the Arkansas is going to regulate its flow. This is a fallacy 
and should be avoided. Every little helps, and it is gratifying 
to see any attempt made, but for final success it is necessary to 
be clear as to the truth in the case. To regulate the Grand River 
and have it as it was 100 years ago, all the land tributary to the 
stream should be woods; and to have a decided influence in stay- 
ing its erratic behavior more is needed than merely a few acres 
of woods at one or a few of its sources. How much is needed ? 
No one knows; but so much is certain, the condition of every 
acre of land tributary to Grand River has its influence however, 
small, on the magnitude of the flood or the duration of a 
drought. What is true of Grand River is true of every stream, 
modified by the many conditions peculiar to each. 
But will reforestation prove a feasible means? Certainly, 
but in most cases it will mean a task of some magnitude, and to 
underrate this is a sure beginning of a failure. Many conditions 
necessarily enter the first considerations of such problems. In 
Iowa where ninety per cent. of all land is real plow land, refor- 
estation must remain in the background, and the plow receive a 
first consideration. In New England where probably not over 
thirty per cent. will ever prove proper plow land, the case is re- 
versed. The same comparison holds between Wayne county and 
Crawford county, or the upper peninsula. 
Generally it may be said, the mistake is made in our country 
in overestimating the value of the agricultural uses of the land. 
The clearing and settling craze is still on, and we are apt to for- 
get that much land may be of far better use if left as woods, or 
restored to forest. In our own state we have dozens of fine 
streams running through lands on which the state has been losing 
money trying to force settlement. Such areas ought to remain 
