The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-05-11
Are We Threatened with National
Water Famine.

/ Are VIC I0rc0tene0 WIN u N8thOm0l
| Water Famine.
The intelligence which reaches us from vari-
Gus parts of the world seems to invest this
question with present nd paramount impor-
| lance In q recent article we commented on
the exceptional and phenomenal cold of the
past winter, and showed that it might, perhaps,
be attributable to the periodic return of what
eminent meteorologists have called "the cold
wave through which our planet is supposed
to pass once in every ten or fifteen years. The
Astronomer Royal of Scotland, in common
with other able and cautious physicists, pre-
dicted last year such an event. and sought to
explain it on broad cosmical principles.
Whether correct or not in their reasonings
there can be no doubt now that the pre-
diction was verified in fact. The diminution
OF our annual heat supply derived from
solar radiation, it is easy to see, will be
marked by diminution in the amount of
water evaporated from the pillows of the ocean
and delivered to the winds to be transported
over the great continental masses of the globe
for their irrigation and refreshment. The rain
fall statistics and returns for the present year,
so far as received, appear to bear out the natu-
raj inference from the above facts, and give us
timely warning to be prepared for great scarcity
of water during the coming summer. We
already know, by experience, that the rains of
the season have fallen short of their usual
abundance this spring in the United States,
although the condensation of this past week
has been considerable The returns from Eng
land, carefully collated by Mr.. Glaisher give
general average Of only twenty-five inches for
the past year, while the proper mean rainfall
of England is thirty inches The deficiency of
eight inches Of tho usual fall may be roughly
estimated at over million gallons of water for
every square mile Of British territory, and
should be carefully noted. In the tropics,
where the atmospheric machinery takes up the
greatest amount Of moisture from the sea for
terrestrial distribution, we find similar results.
From the returns Of the Windward West Indies
the official figures for last December show
deficiency greater than has been known i'll the
twenty-four years preceding; and the average
of the year 1871 was twenty-cight per cent or
more than one-fourth below that of the pre-
CGulHo tWtut1-iouI u Vic luOHtu VI
january, 1872, the returns are still more dis
couraging, the average falling short Of that for
the same month of the twenty-five preceding
years by thirty five per cent, or more than one
third.
Taking these facts in connection with the
widespread and terrible ravages Of the great
Northwestern fires and forest CONGREGATIONS,
which denuded SO many districts of country
last fall, and remembering the climatic dete-
rioration usually observed to follow the clear
ing of the soil and telling of trees, we see good
reason for calling the attention Of the whole
country to the most frugal outstanding of the
precious water supply distilled from the clouds.
It may not now be too late to warn agricul-
turists to prepare for any emergency by the
construction of ponds and reservoirs for the
irrigation of the soil But the warning is GER
tainly opportune and of vital importance in all
the cities and towns of the land to economize
the water, that in case Of blighting droughts
and epidemic disease the terrors Of water
famine may not have to be endured. The pro-
posed action Of Congress in providing for or
encouraging the planting and preservation Of
trees on the public lands is step in the right
direction. The danger now unprecedented by
this means, by the early sinking of artesian
wells and other precautions, may be materially
averted and lessened.