42 Our Field and Forest Trees 



caused by the sudden rising of the water in early 

 spring. Water comes into cellars of houses near 

 the river, and sometimes into the lower rooms. 

 Carpets, wall paper, and plastering are ruined. 

 Fences and outbuildings are upset or washed 

 away. Pavements are destroyed and sewers are 

 put out of repair. Factories near the river edge 

 have to stop work because the rising water puts 

 out their furnace fires, and their workmen are 

 forced to become idle. Along the river front, 

 roads, landing places, and car tracks are under 

 water. River boats cannot take In or discharge 

 cargoes. So the men whose business It is to load 

 and unload along the water front are out of work, 

 also, and, like the factory workmen, are In need 

 of wages that they cannot earn. 



Nor is that all. The earth and sand carried 

 down by swollen rivers are dropped where the 

 current, flowing seaward, meets the ocean tide. 

 Here shoals and bars are formed and these Injure 

 the harbors at the mouths of great rivers. The 

 United States Government has to spend large 

 sums of money in deepening river mouths and 

 channels. 



We must remember, too, that this earth, 

 brought down by the streams and dropped Into 

 the harbors, is often very fertile. It Is an obstruc- 

 tion In the harbors, and It was a great loss to 

 the farms up-river, from whence It came. For 

 the surface soil most likely to wash away Is the 



