208 THE FOREST IN SUMMER AND IN WINTER. 
through the year, notwithstanding the great droughts of the 
last few years, going back from 1856.” 
Dr. Piper quotes from a letter of William C. Bryant the 
following remarks: “ It is a common observation that our 
summers are become drier, and our streams smaller. Take 
the Cuyahoga as an illustration. Fifty years ago large barges 
loaded with goods went up and down that river, and one of 
the vessels engaged in the battle of Lake Erie, in which the 
gallant Perry was victorious, was built at Old Portage, six 
miles north of Albion, and floated down to the lake. Now, in 
an ordinary stage of the water, a canoe or skiff can hardly pass 
down the stream. Many a boat of fifty tons burden has been 
built and loaded in the Tuscarawas, at Mew Portage, and 
sailed to Mew Orleans without breaking bulk. Mow, the river 
hardly affords a supply of water at Mew Portage for the canal. 
The same may be said of other streams—they are drying up. 
And from the same cause—the destruction of our forests—our 
summers are growing drier, and our winters colder.” * 
Mo observer has more carefully studied the influence of the 
forest upon the flow of the waters, or reasoned more ably on 
the ascertained phenomena than Cantegril. The facts pre¬ 
sented in the following case, communicated by him to the 
Ami des Sciences for December, 1859, are as nearly conclusive 
as any single instance well can be : 
“ In the territory of the commune of Labruguiere, there is 
a forest of 1,834 hectares [2,700 acres], known by the name of 
the Forest of Montaut, and belonging to that commune. It 
extends along the northern slope of the Black Mountains. 
The soil is granitic, the maximum altitude 1,243 metres [4,140 
feet], and the inclination ranges between 15 and 60 to 100. 
“ A small current of water, the brook of Caunan, takes its 
rise in this forest, and receives the waters of two thirds of its 
surface. At the lower extremity of the wood and on the 
stream are several fulleries, each requiring a force of eight 
horse-power to drive the water wheels which work the stamp- 
* The Trees of America, pp. 50, 51. 
