FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 271 
erosion by the elements. Roads and trails are one of the great 
sources of erosion in hilly countries, but plowing and tilling are the 
principal causes. The question is not one of forests in the first instance, 
but of how far the cultivation and occupancy of the soil can be dis- 
pensed with. Even on steep mountain slopes, where erosion and 
ruin have resulted, the effect is often due to the clumsy and injudi- 
cious work of the husbandman who uses no judgment of cause and 
effect in the way he exposes the soil to the force of the storms. The 
successful cultivation of hillsides in every quarter of the globe is an 
everlasting refutation of the argument that forests are necessary 
to protect the face of the earth wherever cultivation is practicable. 
Some classes of cultivated vegetation, like the well-knit turf of 
meadow or pasture, are a better protection against erosion than any 
ordinary forest cover. That there are sections of the country where 
erosion of the soil is much more rapid than in others under similar 
conditions, is perfectly true. This is especially the case with cer- 
tain districts in the Southern States, and very likely forest protection 
is there better than any other; but it is still true that the problem of 
control of soil erosion on cleared lands is essentially a problem in 
cultivation. It is not so much the absence of the forest as it is 
the cutting of roads and ditches, the upturning of the soil, and 
the various kindred operations of Man that quicken the run-off and 
increase the surface soil wash. 
The oft-repeated assertion that, owing to the cutting off of forests, 
our rivers are shoaling up more than formerly may be challenged 
absolutely. There is nothing in our river history to support it except 
in a few instances, like the Yuba River in California, where exten- 
sive hydraulic or similar operations have produced vast changes. 
It is exceedingly doubtful if it can be established by any evidence 
worthy of the name that the streams of the Mississippi Basin are 
more obstructed by sand bars than formerly. The writer’s observa- 
tions of upward of 20 years and inquiries from many sources fail 
to disclose any such evidence. Jt would not, indeed, be surprising 
if some such result were noticeable, for it would naturally seem that 
the cultivation of the soil has facilitated to some degree the wash 
into the streams. If this is the case, however, the rivers do not show it. 
They have a way of distributing their burdens so as to meet their 
