FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



437 



VALUE OF THE NUMERICAL DATA OF FORESTS IN RELATION TO 



STREAM FLOW. 



Recently some students of forestry have been disposed to say that, as yet, the data 

 are insufficient for expressing even approximately the numerical relation between forests 

 and stream flow, and that the whole question of forest influence must, therefore, be 

 held in abeyance for many years. As regards this position the author suggests that 

 a study of this character which does not reduce physical data to numerical relations is 

 somewhat unscientific. The object of scientific investigation, especially on the lines 

 now under discussion, is not to pile up isolated facts, but to obtain practical informa- 

 tion for immediate use. Especially is this view pertinent in the State of New York, 

 where the Commonwealth has embarked in an expenditure of several million dollars 

 for forest conservation. We need, therefore, numerical values of some sort at once in 

 order to determine approximately what results may be expected from forest conserva- 

 tion in the Adirondack Park as regards influence on streams. While, therefore, the 

 data herein given are only approximate and the conclusions necessarily tentative, the 

 author is still of the opinion that they on the whole do strongly tend to justify the 

 position that forested areas in the State of New York will yield considerably more 

 water as run-off in the streams from a given rainfall than will deforested areas. This 

 position is, however, only tentative and subject to modification with the gathering 

 of more com lete data. 





AN EVENING SHOT. 



