Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-25
A MENACE TO LOCAL INTERESTS,
Disafforestation Responsible for
Many Acts.
The Axe and Fire and Their Baleful
Aftermath.
A Valuable Paper on a Matter Whfch
should Receive ConsIdera-
tion-Afforestation
Necessary.

IBy Gervaise Purcell, F. l. l., A. M. l. G. 4.
The recent decision of the United
States supreme court adverse to the
claim of the Southern Pacific Railway
company to the Atlantic and Pacihc
Railway company's land grant brings
into effect the act of reservation OF 1871.
This act withdraws from public entry
the rain shed from the Arroyo seco to
San Bernardino, and prohibits the cut
ting of timber or burning OF grasses on
this mountain range by sheep or cattle
men. While this will work some hard
shin to few. its hene6cence as q whole
cannot for moment be overlooked.
The rapid disafforestation OF this re-
eion is a cry ing evil, and the effects are
already being felt in the severe wind
storms and violent winter floods ex-
perienced in recent year. The dweller
on the plains and in the cities rarely
stops to reason why these things nap
pen, but is too prone to lay them down
to "spots on the sun" or other remote
causes, ignoring the more potent and
Immediate ones lying in his nearer sur
roundipgs. Yet most often there, and
there alone. is the cause to be found.
Nothing is so easy as to destroy moth
ing go tedious and discouraging as to
have to replace by arduous labor the
benefits that nature has generously be-
slowed and man ruthlessly wasted.
The last two seasons, in which the
rainfall was comparatively small, have
demonstrated that the supply of water
in our mountain reserve is not mex
haustible. Never for years have the
springs been 90 low nor the flow OF the
cafion streams so meager. That this
would have been in q great measure
avoided and the perennial flow main.
tained but for the the disafforestation OF
the ra;nshed, is fully borne out By the
experience gained in other countries.
Given rain shed covered by forest,
brush and grass; when the rain comes
it falls on the trees, thereby having its
force broken, and reaching the ground,
it carries with it leaves and email twigs
that 90 to make up the humus, which,
in its turn, sustains the underbrush and
grass. These retard the surface flow OF
the rain water, and holding it in place.
give it time to sink through the subsoli
and follow the cracks and crannies OF
the subterranean rocks where, owing to
the friction of the material, it moves
but slowly downward toward it's ulti-
mate destination. This retains it for
use in dry weather.
Mountains are the great condensers of
moisture; consequently, it is hyeto-
logical fact that the rainfall is much
greater there than on the plains. Ma
ture clothes them with forests, shrubs,
grasses aud humus to preserve this su-
perabundance OF water for after use on
the more available lower lands.
Now comes the wood cutter, and with
him the "hideous scar of desolation )"
following close on his heels, or accom-
panying him, the sheepherder. The
former wants the timber, and is reck-
less of what comes after; the latter
wants the grasses, and to get these he
must burn off the underground. The
unprotected soil becomes dry and friable
under the full glare of the sun, and is
ripe to be washed away by the fret
heavy rainstorm This debris chokes
up the watercourses and forms little
lakes. which later on burst or overflow
and carry heavier devastation before
them, supplying the material for shingle
and sandb banks to cover up and destroy
the arabic land below.
Then, again, evaporation is more
rapid ON these bare hills, and large
portion of the water benefcently sent
us is carried back unused to the ocean.
Climatea rapidly change under the
baneful effects of disafforestation. a fact
not generally known or too rarely con-
sidered when known; yet all authorities
agree in the view that the telling of
trees has altered for the worse the ci-
mate of Greece not alone is this con-
ceded, but it is also said to have dimin-
ished the fertility of the soil to great
extent. Another instance Is that of the
noted unhealthiness of Rome, the
Eternal city, over its historical salub-
riety in the past; that is, by those best
informed on the subject, said to be at
tributed to the want of woods and for
ests.
We will not attempt to touch here on
the science OF restoration, being too large
a subject for newspaper article, and,
more properly, the business of the spe-
clalist; but it may be opposite here to
state that in Germany the first system
lied attempts at afforestation date back
to the fourteenth century; in England
we find them in vogue in the sixtt enth
century; at the present time we find
forest departments under the govern
mental control in Germany, Eugland,
France, Russia, Italy and Switzerland.
These departments ara all tending to
the production and conservation of the
woods and forests with the best results.
From purely commercial standpoint
timber plantations have great merit,
being most profitable. For example,
take the ''spinnies" near Haslemere in
Surrey, which yield profit of $50 per
acres for total cost of production of
only $4,5 per acre. Alec the vast plan
tations of the last so years grown in
British India, the foresters OF which
country are drawn from the youth of
Great Britain, and are first given q tech
nical education in forestry in Germany,
the most scientific Of all realms in
this particular branch. And even in
Japan, the man who cuts tree must
plant five ssplings in its place, a condi.
tion that might well govern the privi-
lege of cutting wood in our own country.
FUNERAL OF MISS NICHOLS.
MI