Mr. Roberts. 
322 DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
It is a curious thing that, in relation to forests and stream flow, 
the river engineers seem to be arrayed as a small but compact body 
against “popular opinion.” It must be remembered, however, that 
the engineers concern themselves only with large areas and navigable 
rivers, while the views of their opponents, in the great majority of 
cases, are based upon observations of restricted areas and small streams. 
It might be contended that a collation of the reports from a multitude 
of such local observers should be the most trustworthy basis for 
national legislation bearing upon the improvement of rivers, yet it 
may be questioned whether this conception is not an erroneous one. 
In 1885 the writer was invited to address the American Forestry 
Congress at its Boston meeting upon a text similar to that adopted 
by the author. He was warned by the Secretary of the Congress 
that he was in a woful minority; in fact, almost a lone man, but never- 
theless the Congress would be pleased. to be entertained with his 
theories. His paper enunciated no theories, but simply presented cer- 
tain records of navigable rivers, American and European, which ap- 
peared to show nothing in support of the idea that floods were increas- 
ing in height and frequency, or that the low stages had less discharge 
and were more protracted, on account of any works of man. The 
Congress was informed that perhaps the common belief that the whole’ 
was equal to the sum of all its parts was a proposition after all not 
without exception, as, for instance—to refer to extreme cases—the 
discharges of the Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers at times make up 
but fractions of the united volumes of their respective upper tributaries. 
At a recent meeting, a speaker, after referring to the destruction 
of timber by the girdling process, leaving the trunks to decay uselessly 
then, rose to the climax of his argument, and said: 
_ “Again, every man knows how in the late spring the roads in the 
open country may be firm and dry, but upon entering the forest one is 
sure to find pools of water and deep mud holes. This, gentlemen, 
illustrates the utility of forests, and it is the whole story in a nutshell: 
the open country dried up and the forests abounding with countless 
‘miniature reservoirs.’ ” 
It was not the whole story, however, for, later in the season, in the. 
same region, pedestrians might have been seen hastening toward the ad- 
joining forests to escape drenching from the summer rain squalls. Still’ 
later, during the recent drought in Western Pennsylvania, beneath the 
shade of trees might have been seen corn actually dead for lack of 
moisture, while the corn 50 ft. distant, in the same rows in the open 
field, while somewhat wilted, still lived and filled its ears with a 
medium crop. There might also have been seen in the forests saplings 
here and there beneath larger trees with their leaves dried up and 
falling off. So great, apparently, was the draft of the tap roots of: 
the big trees for water that no moisture whatever was left for a depth 
