Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-04-06

is over 1000, and where the straight line
touches it. over 5000. Nothing in
liquid state would tarry long on a hillside
like that No shade nor mat of leaves
would be strong enough to overcome the
law of gravitation to that extent. Moth
ing could detain it but short time at the
farthest, and if it were not for vast drifts
which hold the snow until late in the
spring floods and summer droughts would
be realized, for notice that heavy storms
continue to visit the places from which
the timber has been taken, but when an
! unfavorable season fails to bank up the
| snow there is no water in the streams.
A strong reason for doubling the orthodox
| faith is the well-known fact that the tenn
perature of the air in a forest is always
| several degrees higher than it is on open
! ground under the same conditions other
wise. A series of careful observations
were made by Cornell University several
years ago, and although the belt of wood
| land was only half mile long and six
| teen rods wide, the results were very
| marked. The trees were oak, maple and
| chestnut, with some hemlock and pines
| intermixed and an abundant underground.
| The thermometer were changed and one
put in another's place frequently in order
! to detect possible errors. The reporter
sums up as follows:
"a study of the records will show that
! the temperature of the wooded belt is
somewhat higher than that of the open
| field, amounting from % to A. on the av-
erage; that fluctuations are less extreme
and less rapid and that gradual changes
in the temperature of the field do not
affect that of the belt until day or two
| later"
Five different stations were kept open
for several months; one Thermometer be-
ing placed against the trunk of a large oak
near the center of the woods, one near the
same tree, but not touching it, third on
pole four feet from the ground, ten rods
from the edge of the woods and two others
in the trunks of trees. A considerably
warmer temperature was shown by the
instrument suspended from the oak tree
but not touching it, although on several
days the one out in the field was exposed
to the sunshine, while the others were in
shade all the time Of course the higher
temperature would have a two-fold effect
upon a snow-bank. The warmer the air
the greater its capacity for holding moist
! ure, and consequently the greater the
evaporation and at the same time the
greater its power to melt the snow and
start it to running off as water.
As / have laid considerable stress upon
this matter of evaporation, which some
may think hardly applies to snow, will
say that very considerably body of snow
has been known to disappear from our
streets without making particle of mud,
leaving the ground dusty, showing that
none of it melted, but that it all went
, directly into the air. And this will occur
any time when the thermometer does not
go above the melting point 1922 within
short time after storm. The importance
of presenting as small surface to the
action of such an air as that is very ap-
parent, and it is in storing up her snow in
| heaps and packing it away in deep pockets
that the economy of nature is manifested.
! The center of the bank will not melt at
any time, and it requires very warm day
TO get at the under side of a snow-drift
The grass will be growing all around it
before the ground gets thawed out sutfi-
ciently to start stream from it; but let
. tree stick its head up through the crust
and it will go quickly. have yet to see
the first body of perpetual snow lying
among the trees. 1t will hardly do to say
that the only reason is that the timber
line lies below such places, for there are
many banks of snow which only disappear
once IN ten years or SO, when theie comes
a long, dry summer, which have trees
growing higher up on the same mountain
side.
In as large subject as this there are
many peculiar conditions and unknown
quantities to discover and consider, but it
seems to me that it is worthy of more at
tention than it has received. My own
observations, while they have extended
over period of many years, have been
those of layman, and have not been such
as to afford mathematical proof even that
given quantity of snow, say foot, will
last as long on open ground as it will
among trees. My belief is that it will
last longer, and such is the opinion of those
who have had the longest residence in the
, mountains of California and Nevada, but
SO far as | am informed no one has made
accurate experiments.
In any case / do not wish to be under
stood as favoring the destruction of the
forests of this or any other country. l
never cut eedown in my life and never
seen one fall without feeling as if had
lost friend. Whatever is proven there
will always be abundant reasons for pre-
serving extensive tracts of woodland every
where that trees will grow, and it is time
the matter became one of public concern.
r. l.. FULTON.
Reno, New, March 81, 1890.