Processes of Afforestation. 143 
gradually and without turbulence, find their way to the valley 
below. Where the incline is too steep and higher breastworks 
are necessary, they are made of masonry, sometimes at great 
expense. At the base of these overflow dams an opening is left 
for the water to drain through, even after the depression behind 
the rampart has filled up with débris and soil has washed down 
from above. Then, when in this way the soil has come to rest, 
forest planting begins, and gradually the torrent is “drowned in 
vegetation.” Sometimes, where on a steep mountain side the 
naked rock alone has been left, it becomes necessary to carry in 
baskets the soil to the trenches hewn in the rock, where the little 
seedlings may take their first hold, until they are strong enough 
to fight their own battle and make their own soil, gradually re- 
storing the beneficent conditions which nature had provided 
before the arrival of man and his senseless, improvident, self- 
destructive greed. By the irrational destruction of the forest, 
first for the supply of timber, then through the careless use of 
fire, by the clearing for unsuitable farm use, by excessive grazing 
of sheep and goat, the mountain sides themselves are not only 
devastated and made useless, but fertile farms for 200 miles from 
the source of the evil are ruined by the deposit of the débris, and 
the population pauperized and driven from their homes. Many 
millions of dollars have been and many more will have to be 
spent before these regions become habitable again. On plate 7 
are shown various views of these processes of afforestation as 
now practiced in France. 
That we are working in this country toward the same condi- 
tions is too well known to need rehearsal. Go to the shores of 
lake Michigan or visit the coast of New England, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, down to the Gulf, and you can see the destructive 
action of the shifting sands set loose by improvident removal of 
the plant-cover. Go to the Adirondacks, the highlands of Mis- 
sissippi, or the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains, and as- 
pects similar to those derived from France will meet your view, 
Thus McGree graphically describes the formation of the Mis- 
sissippi bad lands :** 
With the moral revolution of the early sixties came an industrial evo- 
lution; the planter was impoverished, his sons were slain, his slaves were 
liberated, and he was fain either to vacate the plantation or greatly to 
*In a paper read before the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, at Washington, in 1891 (not printed). 
20—Nart. Geog. Maa., von. VI, 1894. 
