San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-03-08
FORESTS AND FLOODS.
The Destruction OF the Former the Cause Of IN
Latter.

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Latter.
Many persons assume that a great
flood contradicts the theory that cut.
ting away forests causes exceptionally
low water in the denuded country.
The truth is, the destruction of the
woods means water courses to run
extraordinarily low and high, accord
ing to the season.
In 1881 we had the lowest water
ever known in the Ohio, and to-day
we have the highest water ever known.
There extreme equally illustrates the
theory we urge upon the attraction of
the people.
The reasons are perfectly distinct.
Takea mass of mountains on the
Allegheny, Monongahela or Kanawha.
Let us suppose them clothed with
trees from foot to crown, and with
underbrush and mocses, with beds of
half. decayed leaves, resting npon soil
that represents deposits of leaves and
vegetable growth for thousands of
years. Each mountain is an enor-
nous sponge. The rain may fall for
days, and the greater part is absorbed,
saturating the soil, the grass, the
leaves, lingering in the bushes and
the trees. The half-decayed logs will
hold barrels of water, and for weeks
after a heavy rain the moisture is
trickling away in thousands of flush
springs.
Cut away the trees-the underbrush
perishes, the moss is dried up, the
soil washed away and the rocks are
exposed. The rains descend, and the
m ountains shed the water like the
roofs of houses. ALI that falls makes
it's way into the torrents at once.
Take thousand mountains at the
dead waters of the Ohio and reduce
them to barrenness, and it follows
that the river is lower in dry weather
and higher in wet weather, and more
and more subject to extreme of high
and low water.
Disastrous as the flood is to-day
unprecedented as it is-intelligent
people must be aware that very slight
changes in the atmospheric phenom-
ena of the last fortnight would
have given us still more formidable
river. The rise that is so wonderful
comes from three transforms
ing over week-and the sudden
frost after the second rain prevented
the advance of the waters from being
much more rapid than it has been.
Europeis suffering more from floods
than in former generations. They
are the clearly traced results of the
destruction of forests and made more
destructive by a system Of levees that
are equally false and futile. The ex-
perience of Hungary and Northern
Italy is especially instructive.
The preservation of mountains from
destruction; that is, from becoming
utterly barren-a desolation of rocks.
is a duty that public safety demands.
The greater part of Switzerland
WOlllu udVc USGl uullllldUlGdDlt lOllS
ago if it had not been for the system
attic cultivation and preservation Of
forests. There are many mountain
sides in Switzerland that are wonder
fully supported by trees and shrub
berry, cared for with a full apprecia-
ton of their Importance.
The wasteful, reckless cutting of
trees, and carelessness, or worse, in
burning away wood lands must stop,
for it is a public mischief. Forest
culture in the mountains is needed;
and the whole trouble is not in the
higher lands. The hillsides must be
cared for, as well. There is way of
blowing them that is conservative
and when there is tendency to wash
they should be supported by grasses.
Here the rotation of crops comes in,
the preservation of brooks by the
cultivation of willows, the restoration
of land that is growing ragged under
the rains by the native forest trees, or,
if the case is bad, trees of quick
growth. A magnificent forest of black
locust can be raised from the sprouts
in from fifteen to twenty years-Cin-
cinnati Commercial Gazette.