, 1873-11-08

OF OCTAVIUS NUTZHORN'S
"SKOV OG LAND" 1878,
TRANSLATED FROM
THE DANISH.
[. INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST
ON THE MOISTURE OF THE
SOIL.
Continued

There is another essential cause of the
greater moisture in the soil of the forest
viz that the wind, the drying parching
effect of which is extremely strong in the
open country, does not exist in the forest /;
how much this signifies, is evident from
the experiments % S%chubeler, showing
that a surface of water of one square foot
exposed to a tree current OF air, eyaporates
yearly 1882 cubitsfeet, but the same on
an atmosphere at rest evaporates only
Cos cubit feet.
Taking for granted, that the forest is
capable OF making the slope OF a hill a Ie-
Servoir for water it is a matter Of course
chat the forest in a still greater degree is
capable of increasing the moisture of the
soil on the Ieuel; but the effect of the cut
ting down the forests, namely that the
water no longer penetrates into the earth,
or rather the consequence OF this effect,
inundations and sudden changes in the
level of he water, must be most c%0uspicu-
Gus in mountainous countries, where these
facts are noticed earlier than in other local
tiles.
In France the control of the forests and
of the watercourses has from the earliest
times been combined in the same 0uthority,
not merely for the sake Of the chase and
the fishing, but also because the trees and
the rivers stand in a relation Of mutual
influence upon each other with regard to
their regularity, and in a manner are en-
twined with each other; but at the same
time there are few countries, which
have had to feel to the extent as
France the importance of the forest in its
influence on springs and lakes, on brooks
and rivers. In the time OF the Romans the
upper courses Of the Seine, the Loire and
the Saone were navigabIe, where nov no
vessel can float the two rivers between
Chambly and st. Julien-Ie Cores, which
formerly never were empty, are now,
since the destruction of the forest La Hart,
nearly always dry. At the time when the
Bocage in La Vend6e was covered with
woods, the water caused much injury both
to agriculture and to the means of commu-
n"ication since 1908, when the great for
ests were cleared, there is almost a dedci-
ency of water. In Provence the former
sources and streams disappeared with the
destruction of the olive trees I'm the winter
of 1921; the water-cOurses in the forest
districts Of Orleans have vanished during
the two last centuries, in proportion as the
forests decreased and were thinned,
Similar experiences may be gathered in
all countries. The Venetian ship-buIlders
supplied their Wharves with timber from
the mountain forests of DaImatia, at such a
rate, that these were entirely destroyed
and since then the country can hardy fur
nish food for the inhabitants, the springs
are dried up, and parching winds destroy
the vegetation.-h Hungary likewise the
clearing OF the forests during the last fifty
years has every were caused the drying up
of the springs. In proportion as the forests
disappeared from the Bacher mountains
IN Styria, more and more of the springs are
dried up also of that country. The woods
IN Piedmont have in the present century
been left to the unrestricted use of the in
habitants, and in consequence you see now
the mountains every where naked, in all
directions ravines are formed, during sum-
mer the river-beds are dry, and in early