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so many additional considerations must enter into the discussion that it would lead 

 us too far to attempt it here. 



The influence upon the runoff of the water may be summarized as follows : — 



A. — In regard to Springs. 



1. The forest floor prevents the filtration of a certain part of the precipitation ; 

 yet the largest portions of the snow water and of abundant rainfall filter into smaller 

 or larger depths, according to the condition of the soil. Although this amount is 

 greater on soil not covered, and although the process of vegetation of the forest trees 

 consumes a certain amount of this water, yet the protection afforded against evapora- 

 tion more than balances this loss. 



2. The forest, therefore, reserves in the end larger quantities of water for forma- 

 tion of springs. Probably these amounts are also increased by the gi-eater amount 

 of condensation of atmospheric moisture over its area. 



B. — In regard to Superficial Runoff. 



3. Moderate rains may be retarded by forest crowns and forest floor from running 

 off superficially, and are mainly earned off by springs alone. The conditions of 

 permeability of the soil and of slope determine this, however, often more than the 

 forest; so that in densely wooded localities, with an impermeable soil and steep 

 slopes, the water is after all shed more rapidly into the creeks and rivers than in 

 unforested or even entirely naked regions with a permeable soil and gi adual slope. 



4. When extreme and continuous rainfalls occur the forest cannot practically 

 and effectively reduce the amount that will come to run off superficially, but its 

 influence may be beneficial in retarding the confluence of the little rills and rivulets 

 of the runoff. 



5. In mountainous districts the forest is of utmost importance in protecting the 

 soil against abrasion and pi'eventing the formation of torrents, which carry rocks 

 and dibris into the rivers, and thereby increase the danger of floods, even in the 

 rivers, and make navigation precarious. 



With this brief review of our knowledge as to what forest influences we may 

 reasonably expect, there is, I hope, enough beneficial and desirable influence re- 

 maining to deserve our close attention, even if we are not willing to generalize as 

 broadly as some of our friends have done in their enthusiastic plea for the forest. 



May there be found in Canada sufficient broad statesmanship, sufficient intelli- 

 gence in regard to the administration of its economic resources, to insure, first, a 

 proper policy of protecting her mountain forests against unnecessary, wasteful and 

 harmful destruction, and, secondly, a systematic planting of timber belts through 

 the treeless plains for the amelioration of their climatic, and especially their water 

 conditions. ^ 



Prof Saunders — In confirmation of this statement advanced by Prof 

 Fernow as to the great importance of even light forest protection in preventing 

 evaporation, I would cite a case that game under my observation on our Experi- 

 mental Farm in Manitoba during this last year. On the bluffs that rise from the 

 Assiniboia Eiver there is a certain amount of scrub to the height of 6 or 8 

 feet. Although this scrub was so low, when we cleared a place for fruits in it we 

 allowed a margin of this undergrowth to remain as a protection against the drying 

 winds which sweep over the prairie. The fruit and ornamental trees which were 

 planted there have grown without the least injury to the foliage from wind, and 

 have grown much more luxuriantly than those not so protected. A large proportion 

 of trees that are planted on the western plains are injured by being blown about 

 and become battered and bruised by the winds, but in the instance referred to, a 

 very marked difference can be observed between the plantation protected by this 

 low o-rowth of scrub and plantations outside of it. This experience bears out the- 

 statement advanced by Prof. Fernow, that one of the most important points in con. 



