DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 371 
the flood of 1908 in the Western States would have been much greater Mr. Swain. 
if the region had been forested is a mere statement of the author’s 
opinion, entirely without proof, and undoubtedly incapable of a proof; 
and, further, if the records in Table 1 show that it is impossible to 
find evidence in them to support the current theory of forest influence, 
it may also be stated that there is nothing in them to support the 
author’s theory. 
Fortunately, however, we are not without valuable evidence in this 
matter, particularly in the experience in France. The work of M. 
Vallée, to which the author refers, was published in 1857 and was 
followed by two articles* by the same writer, his claim being that 
forests diminish rainfall and increase the violence of floods. These 
opinions, however, seem to have been without influence, for, in 1860, 
the French Government entered upon a policy of forest protection and 
reforestation, particularly in the mountain regions, which has been 
continued to the present time. To January 1st, 1900, the State had 
acquired, for the purpose of controlling torrents, 162974 hectares 
(about 407000 acres), and had expended upon the work of protection 
more than 66 million francs, with a further contemplated expenditure 
of more than 114 million francs, and one of the most recent writerst 
on the subject states: “The réle of the forest as a regulator of the 
flow of streams may be considered as evident, and it is to-day univer- 
sally admitted.”” Under the able direction of Prosper Demontzey, Chief 
of the Service of Reforestation in France, from 1882 until retired in 
1898, and of his predecessors, much has been accomplished, and some 
formerly very destructive torrents have been reduced to inoffensive 
streams by reforestation and regulation, much more being expended for 
reforestation than for regulation. Perhaps it will be argued that the 
good results that have followed have been due entirely to regulation, 
and not at all to reforestation, but that is not the view of French en- 
gineers. 
At first there was great opposition on the part of the inhabitants of 
the mountain valleys and slopes to the Government work of reforesta- 
tion, and, in 1864, there were even riots in resistance, but this opposi- 
tion has not only entirely ceased, but has been replaced by active co- 
operation. The people now frequently petition to have the Government 
pursue its work, and even voluntarily give up portions of their lands 
for the purpose, without asking any reimbursement. 
With reference to extreme droughts, the author admits “that, as a 
general rule, springs and little streams dry up more completely than 
when forests covered the country,” but he argues that, since each spring 
is small, their drying up will have little effect on the main stream, the 
flow of which will be kept up, if the region is deforested, by the rapid 
* Annales des Ponts et Chaussées. 
+ G. Huffel, ‘‘ Economie Forestidre.”' 1904. 
