162 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



I had scarcely gone over two kilometers in the ravine when the water began to 

 rush with great violence ; ten minutes later it precipitated itself in its ordinary canal 

 d'ecoulcment, completing the work of destruction begun in the month of September. 

 The lands of Saint-Phalez had absorbed but little or none of the water that day. 



The storm was not of long duration, an hour at most. The time was unfavorable 

 for collecting on the ground exact measurements, but I reckon that the torrent deliv- 

 ered, at its maximum, somewhat less water, perhaps, than on the4th of September. The 

 flood, however, was more frightful; it swept away rocks with so much the greater 

 ease that nothing had been repaired since the first storm, which had left the stones 

 dug out, and without bond of cohesion among themselves. 



To gain the forester's house, which was on the slope of the left bank, it was neces- 

 sary to make a long circuit, to go round the domain of Saint-Phalez and to cross the 

 grounds belonging to it, in which one sank to the depth of 0.30 meters, or 12 inches. 

 Before arriving at my home, I still had the ravine of the Combe d'Yeuse, and I feared 

 I would be stopped there by a new obstacle. I was agreeably surprised to find it 

 dry. An hour after the storm the ravine of Saint-Phalez had ceased to flow. 



It rained throughout the whole of the 2Sth, without there beiDg anything to 

 remark similar to what had happened on the preceding days. The only effect of this 

 was . that on the evening of the 30th, near the forester's house, and at 200 or 300 

 meters from the ravine of Saint-Phalez, there was seen coming down, in that of Yeuse, 

 a small fillet of clear water. Its volume increased perceptibly during the three day6, 

 to diminish in like manner during the two which followed. Its passage broke down 

 a little of the foot-path which goes along the valley, but caused only a damage easily 

 repaired. But this foot-path presented nothing of the solidity of structure of that of 

 the Combe de Saint-Phalez. built on enormous blocks of rocks, which had stood for 

 several years, and which had allowed of passage with a wagon some days before its 

 destruction by the storm in September. If the Combe d'Yeuse had yielded as much 

 water as that of Phalez, and if these two masses of water had come at the same time, 



received these waters, would have been so much the larger. 



Thus we have two torrents very near and under the same conditions, except that 

 the basiu drained by the one comprises 50 hectares of cultivated lands, that of the 

 other 250 hectares of woodlands. The first receives, and allows to flow away, the 

 waters of the greater part of the storm, in a few hours at most, causing thereby con- 

 siderable damage ; the second, which had received a greater quantity of rain, stores 

 it, keeps it for two days, evidently retaining a portion of it, and takes three or four 

 days to yield up the surplus, which it does in the form of a limpid and inoffensive 

 stream. 



The importance of preserving a forest growth in the vicinity of 

 streams appears, therefore, to be very great; it is our natural safe- 

 guards against both floods and droughts. There should be no hesitation 

 or delay, therefore, in protecting from injury such of our remaining public 

 forests as are so situated as to exercise this conservative influence upon 

 streams. It is one of the clearest duties of the Government so to pro- 

 tect them. The most stringent provisions of law should guard them 

 from depredation or injury, "and in no case should the title to them be 

 alienated by the Government. They should remain under the public 

 management as one of the sources of national benefit. In addition to 

 this, efforts should be made by the Government to clothe again with 

 trees portions of the country in the neighborhood of streams from which 

 the forests have been cut off. It cannot be expected that such a work 

 will be undertaken by individuals. The work required is too great 

 and costly, and there is no adequate motive to engage in such an enter- 

 prise. Tree-planting by individuals will only be undertaken when 

 there is a reasonable assurance of pecuniary advantage, and it will be 

 quite limited in extent. 2s or will it be practicable to obtain such a com- 

 bination of individual action as to secure the desired result. Neither, 

 again, can it be expected that the separate States will engage in such a 

 work with the requisite efficiency. A State might well undertake to 

 protect streams of suck limited extent as to be contained within its own 

 borders. But many of our streams pass through or form the bounda- 



GOVERNMENT AID IN REFORESTING- STREAMS. 



