10 



PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



we do the same thing on a more extended scale, when we 

 raise or remove forests. Whenever an extensive region 

 of country is denuded of its forests, the winds pass over 

 it with greater velocity, impinging with greater force up- 

 on the soil, rapidly dispelling the moisture on it or arising 

 therefrom. Keeping this in mind, we can readily under- 

 stand why a country denuded of its forests may become 

 so dry as not to admit of the production of grain, or any 

 of the ordinary cultivated crops, while the annual 

 amount of rainfall remains almost if not quite as great as 

 it was when the forests were standing, and when the hus- 

 bandman seldom failed to raise remunerative crops. 



Any one who has resided for any length of time on the 

 plains of Colorado, ISTew Mexico, or in fact almost any- 

 where in the elevated regions of the West, can fully un- 

 derstand the effect of winds on surface moisture deposited 

 by rains. I have known more water to fall in one hour 

 in these regions, than in any four I ever experienced in 

 the Eastern States, while owing to the compact nature of 

 the soil it could not penetrate to any considerable depth, 

 but passes over to the lower lands and streams, leaving 

 the ground nearly as dry as before it came. These show- 

 ers are almost invariably followed by high Avinds, which 

 take up and dispel what little moisture may have re- 

 mained attached to the leaves and stems of the low-grow- 

 ing weeds and grasses. The immense number of deep 

 gullies to be seen all through Avhat has been aptly termed 

 the ^^arid belt,'^ show plainly enough that very heavy 

 showers do occasionally fall in these regions, but there is> 

 no large area of sponge-like leaf-mould, in either forest 

 or field, to take up and retain the waters until utilized 

 by plants — dispersed by slow evaporation, or absorbed 

 by the soil beneath, where a portion of it at least 

 would find its way to the little springs below, which in 

 turn would feed the brooks and streams of lower levels. 

 Instead of these natural obstructions, the way is clear for 



