158 Journal of the Mitchell Society. [Dec. 



These defects in the water supply are not due to the lack of 

 rain but to the removal of the natural agencies that nature 

 has provided for the storing- of this water which has resulted 

 from the removal of the forests. Again, these defects are not 

 due to any considerable extent to the clearing of land for 

 farming purposes for the farmer must of necessit}- protect the 

 soil from being washed away and the only loss to the water 

 supply that he would cause would be the greater evaporation 

 to which it would be exposed. They are. however, due to 

 the wasteful and destructive removal of the forests by the 

 lumber companies who leave large tracts of land stript in 

 some cases of every vestige of a tree. 



The present method of cutting timber and the subsequent 

 forest fires is causing a scarcity of lumber, especially of the 

 hard woods, and there are now but few sections in this coun- 

 try where virgin forests of this character are to be found. 

 This total destruction of a forest in lumbering is not neces- 

 sary but it is a wasteful destruction of property, and a forest- 

 covered area which should be a constant source of revenue, 

 becomes in the end waste land and in many cases an impover- 

 ished, barren tract. 



This scarcity of hard woods can be remedied by the appli- 

 cation of practical forestry which would be adopted in any 

 forest reserve established in the Southern Appalachian Moun- 

 tains and is now being practiced in the forest reserves of the 

 western part of this country. There is little or no doubt but 

 that the forests of the Southern Appalachian mountains can, 

 by systematic and conservative measures, be made to yield 

 profitable returns to the State and country. The forests of 

 North Carolina and Tennessee are, and have for many years, 

 been one of the chief resources of revenue to the people of 

 these States and thus their preservation and perpetuation 

 means a constant source of revenue to these States. 



Thus the two main and vital reasons for forest reserves are 

 first, the protection of the water supply of our streams and 



