Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-02-15
THE VOLUME OF TIBER.


amounts on the mean to nearly 90 cubic feet
a square mile a minute. The Sa6ne, a river
whose conditions Of climate and of bed are
pretty similar, brings down SO ; rivers with
less of mountain supply but otherwise under
similar conditions, the Thames, for instance,
and the Seine, from 20 to 40; Alpine streams,
such as the Rhone, Lieino, and so forth, at
the point where they issue from their parent
lakes, upwards of 200. it is said that the
springs which feed the Tibcr are in many
parts unusually large, from the cavernous
nature of the subsoil.
And it is remarkable for this That dur
ing its whole course, or until it closely APP
proaches the sea- its feeders on both sides
flow from mountain ranges, although not of
considerable height. 1t is, therefore, not
only abundantly, but also, on the whole,
more equally ted than is usual. In the
drlest weather there is an average depth of
eight feet at Rome and its bed, during its
whole course after it has received its chief
affluents, Is comparatively deep and narrow,
cut In yielding but not in very loose strata
lt has, therefore, none Of the characters of q
torrent river, nor is It's nature mischievous.
Its inundations make more noise in the
world from the peculiar circumstances of the
site of Rome than from their real magnitude
Between the Janicuium and the Seven Hills
there was always something ike a trench,
through which the accumulated waters from
above made comparatively narrow way and
this popularity has been increased by the
gradual raising Of the soil for ages, covered
with the debris Of ancient Rome or rather
OF two OF three ROmes piled one over the
other. l. he great aqueducts, all directed on
Rome, add TO the flow.
At this particular point, therefore, Of the
river course, there has been always a
IL D ~
to Mr.. Ruskin to sugg, ST how that block is
to be removed and the upper waters admitted
to lreer communication with the sea. Dyk-
ing or otherwise c0nfning those upper wa
tcrs would seemingly only aggravate the evil.
Nor does 1t clearly appear that the evil is OF
such mo gnltute as to call Tor any great d.
version of national resources from oth er pur-
poses u obvi1tc IT, Father Hber, we
have said Is no bearer of malice. lie makes
no permanaut swamps. lie covers no flats
with impracticdbic masses of sand gravel.
All he does Is to cause the tOwustoik OF
Rome, every twenty years or SO. some loss
and considerable discomfort, and to afford
materials in prophecies and judgments. The
ravages of untamuble floods. such as the Po
and Rhoue, cause very different order OF
evils, and test human patience and ingenuity
very differently.
PLANS or NAPOLEON iu.
II, however. it is ever thought worth while
TO guaranty Rome by serious engineering or
eratIons against these occasional calamItIes
it is probable that the only practical method
VIII be 10 lave recourse To "a remedy which
Mr.. Huskiu himsel. appears to contemplate,
though he describes II in rather utbuiOus
manner 1t is orc which the Emperor Ma
Tolcon III. had in view to check the more
formidable aEgrcssiuns of the Loire and
REonc. Catch the several trIbutarIes OF the
poccant river high up IN the hills which send
them forth dam them up at convenient
spots. collect their waters in large tanks, or
artificial lakes, and You VIII have az once
reservoirs in time of drought and regulators
in time of flood. Something of tins kind was
effected by the ancient Instructors of tanks .
in India, and may he again realized by tile .
efforts of the engineers of our modern lrrI-
CATION works IL that country. But lnde-
pcudently oi all objection OF expense and of .
typographical difficulties. considerable doubt
may be entertained whether the creation OF
these large surfaces of water in the narrow
valleys OF Central Italy would not aggravate .
the tendency to malaria fever which Is the
curse Of the country. The two most recent
expensive Neurological operations in that
country have been in the opposite direction
the draining ot the lakes Celauo ana
Agnano.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM RUSHIN.
Afer reading the preceding article in the
Ga>etfe, Mr. Ruskin sent the following letter
to the editor
Sir The letter to which you do me the
honor 70 refer, in your yesterdays article on
the IIbcr, entered into no detail. because .
had already laid the plans spoken OF before
the koyalas Constitution in my lecture there
last February; in which my principal object
was TO state the causes OF the ncalculably
destructive iuuudationS of the Rhoue, ToccIa
and Ticino, in 1865 and to point out that
no mountain river ever was or can be sue
ces-lully embarked in the valleys but that
the rainfall must be arrested on the high and
softly rounded hill surfaces, before 1t reaches
any ravine in which its force can he concen-
trated. Every mountain farm ought to have
a dyke about TWO feet high-wlth small
ditch within it-carried at intervals in reg
ular, scarcely pcrceptible incline, across Its
fields with discharge into a reservoir large f.
enough to contain q week s maximum rain
fall on the area of that farm in the st0rmiest
weather-the higher uncultivated lands be
ing guarded over larger spaces with bolder
No drop of water that had
once touched hill ground ought ever to reach
the plants till it was wanted there; ; and the
OF the bank and reservoir, once
built, on any farm, would not cost more than
the keeping up OF it's cattle-shods against
chance OF whirlwind and snow.
- The first construction of the work ould
be costly enough and, say the economists,
would not pay | never heard of any ma
tional delcnses that did Presumably, we
shall have to pay more income tax next year,
without hope of any dividend on tie dis
Jursement Nay-you must usually wait
year or two before you get paid for any great
work, even when the gam is secure. The
of Paris did not pay, till very
ately they are doubtless returning cent.
Der cent now, since the kind of rain falls
leavy within them which they were meant
o catch. Our experimental embankments
gainst (perhaps too economically cheap
hot at Shoeburyness are property which 5
We can only realize under similarly ia !
orable conditions. But my low embank- $
nents would not depend for their utility on ;
be advent of hypothetical foe, but would !
ave to contend with an instant and inevita- !
lie one yet with one who is only an adver-
ary if unresisted; who, resisted, becomes 5
lithful friend, lavish benefactor. s
. Give me the old bayonets in the Tower,
f | can't have anything so good as spades
nd few regiments of volunteers with
ood engineer officers over them, and in three 7
ears time an inundation of Tiber, at least,
hall .e impossible
q am sir, your faithful servant,
- JOHN RUsKIN. c