Mr. Fletcher, 
Mr. Snow. 
450 DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
Furthermore, as to river floods, there has been no noticeable in- - 
crease. In fact, the highest flood that the writer has ever seen 
occurred about 25 years ago, and was considerably short of the height 
of the record flood of 1869, which wrought destruction throughout New 
England. ' Mill operators along the Connecticut also testify that there 
has been no noticeable change in the flood extremes. If anything, the 
flow has been more uniform in recent years. This last statement is 
the only comment the writer cares to make on Proposition 7. 
For another case in point, it is proper to cite the experience of a 
private water company which supplies the village with a very pure 
spring-water drawn from a series of wells on a wooded hillside about 
2 miles distant, and delivered through a 2-in. pipe to about 160 takers. 
This supply has not failed throughout the phenomenal drought of the 
last six months, and it is believed that it has been conserved by care- 
fully maintaining the forest growth on the company’s reservation. 
Finally, extreme statements on both sides should be avoided, and 
the facts, when carefully ascertained, should be rightly interpreted. 
Tf it is true, as has been stated, that the fire gets more than the 
axe, then the lumberman naturally wishes to rescue the wood for the 
use of man. On the other hand, in virgin forest, the fire is not so apt 
to make headway, especially with a little care; but the vast areas 
obstructed by slash will always be subject to permanent destruction, 
until decay has done its work. 
As to the question of cause and effect, the distinguished curator 
of the Arnold Arboretum has said, “If you have rainfall, you will have 
forest; no rainfall, no forest.” It is an incontestable fact that the 
smaller streams of our side valleys not only have less regular flow, 
but have less annual discharge than in the days of the grandfathers. 
Ruins of mills and dams may be found on mountain streams where 
the attempt to establish a water-power to-day would be ridiculous. It 
is a fair question whether the country has been undergoing a gradual 
desiccation since the glacial period, irrespective of the question of an- 
nual rainfall. A fair interpretation of experience and observed facts leads 
to the inevitable conclusion that extensive and continued denudation 
of our forest-clad hills and mountains without continual and successful 
reforestation would be an immeasurable calamity, and that, putting 
aside argument or disputed points, we will make no mistake in all 
reasonable endeavor to conserve to the utmost the protected conditions 
about the head-waters of our streams and in the higher valleys, which 
we have inherited from the past. 
J. P. Snow, M. Am. Soc. C. E. (by letter) —The paper is timely as 
an offset to the present absurd statements in regard to the calamities 
overshadowing us on account of changing forests to cleared land. 
An experience of more than 40 years in Central and Northern New 
England leads the writer to agree, in the main, with the essence of 
