Senate Doc. No. 84. 



Plate LXIX. 



{A) RHODODENDRON UNDERGROWTH HOLDING THE SOIL AND THE WATER. 



Undergrowth like this holds in place indelinilely the deep, fertile soil of the steep Appalaehiaii mountain slopes. 



(B) SEAMS IN THE ROCK FACILITATE THE STORAGE OF WATER FROM HEAVY RAIN. 



These supplement the work of the soil on the moimtain slopes in storing the e.xi-essive rains and giving out this 

 water during the drier seasons of the year. But when the forests are destroyed, both the soils and'the half- 

 decayed rocks are rapidly carried away, and the mountain rains rush into the streams below, causing floods of 

 increasing violence. 



