The Arizona sentinel., 1889-09-14

| 10 an extent which can pc retrieved
only by the labors of many succe ssive
generations. Another terrible flood
occurred but a year ago, spreading its
havoc over an area of three hundred
and fifty thousand square miles, in
Guiding some of the most densely pop
ulated districts of Easte China. The
loss of life on that occasion has been
computed to reack the appalling ag-
gregate of seven hundred and fifty
thousand, even after deducting the
hundreds of thousands that succumbed
to the subsequent famine and the many
hundreds slain by marauders and hum
ger-crazed cannibals.
The floods of the Indus have more
than once choked its delta with the
debris of inundated cities, and the re-
ports of Prof. Brehm prove that the
yearly rise of the Nile is not by any
means an unqualified blessing to the
natives of the Dark G ointment Amer
lea, too, has begun to suffer severely
from river foods, and it is an ominous
| Ae1Su OhclO OhO lcloO HNS vi
the Ohio valley showed a steady in
crease in the volume of the descending
torrents. The JohnstOwn horror was
caused by a perhaps unparalleled COM
bination of unlucky circumstances, but
| that disaster can not be attributed eX-
! clusively to the insufficient strength of
the South Fork dam is proved by the
simultaneous inundations of several
river valleys in Western New York
and East Virginia.
Have the healing arts of our latter
day civilization no remedy for such
affliction? The solution of the prob
lem has actually been attempted in
Egypt and Northern Europe. In the
Landes of Gascony and in the Belgian
Campine the planting of the umbrella
pine (Pinus maritima) has effectually
arrested the irruptions of the sea,
and has given the inhab-
itants new lease, not only of land,
but also of life, the reduction of pesti-
lential marshes having perceptibly i'm
proved the healthfulness of those dis
tricts. and, it is said, diminished the
frequency of morning fog. In 1882
Mehemet Ali decided to try his luck
with the aCddieS or sand plains on the
coast of Egypt Upper Egypt, Abys-
sinia and the slopes of Mount Cau-
casus were overrun by the tree agents
of the autocrat; trees by shiploads
and caravan loads were landed at
Cairo and distributed to the overseers
of an army of fellahs; and, according
to various estimates, from nine million
to fifteen million forest trees were
actually planted, and so carefully
nursed that eighty per cent. of them
took root and helped to qualify the
soil and climate for further planta-
tiOns. Jules Rozet, an eminent French
engineer, proposed to reduce the raw
ages of foundations by intersecting
steep mountain slopes by bitches filled
with coarse gravel and powders.
Torricelli induced the Government of
Tuscany to divert the waters of peril
Gus rivers by lateral canals; and the
commissioners appointed to devise
means for the redemption of lands
wasted by the mountain torrents OF
Southern Austria made a series of ex-
periments with the construction of
artificial lakes or reservoirs, which
they hoped would prevent the too sud-
den descent of the highland floods.
But thus far only the plan of Me-
hemet Ali has led to any thing like
satisfactory results. Dykes are apt to
prolong, rather than avert, the mis-
chief of inundations Gas the city of
Sacramento, Cal, had chance to as
certain at its cost; effiuent canals de-
generate into morasses, and reservoirs,
besides being liable to get shoaled by
the accumulation of detritus, consti-
tute a constant menace to the inhab-
itantS of the lower river valley. Des-
erts can be redeemed only by tree
culture.
Prevention, however, is better than
cure-so much so, indeed, thai it is
even easier to arrest the progress of a
far-gOne disease than to retrieve the |
complete loss of health. In America
laws for tho protec-
ton of all highland woods might vet |
make the endeavors of the Forestry |
Association something more than a |
hopeless pull against the stream, and |
help us tide over the transition DeriOd !
to Karl VOgts era of nature worship,
when physical laws of God will be SO
understood that men viii
,hink it disgrace to be sick, and ma
ions will be ashamed of drought
The worst of all earthly evils might
,hus be prevented by direct removal
If the cause, and then it could be truly
'aid that the lost paradise of the East
ern continent has been regained in the
New World of the West.