, 1899-08-10
OUR FORESTS.
Danger to Them From an Unlocked for
Source--The Price Of Liberty is
Eternal Vigilance.

IIS " w CotCtb Wv
forestry are allowed to be
used as feeding grounds was
graphically told by E. s. Nettleton
Yesterday. Mr.. Nettleton has
been an irrigation engineer in this
state for the last 30 years. His
work has taken him to Europe and
Asia:
"If the order of the interior'de-
partment that allows grazing on
any part of the forest reserves is
not annulled ~irreparable damage
will be done. The grazing of
sheep in these reserves is espec-
tally fraught with danger. The
danger is more of the future than
of the present. Allow. sheepmen
any access at all to these reserves
and it will not be long until there
will be no water during the irri-
eating s.
"The grazing will destroy the
grass and all the young trees that
are shooting up to replace the big
ones when these are destroyed by
fire or timbermen. The roots will
be torn from the ground and the
heavy rains will carry the soilawav.
The constant treading of the soil
will aid in putting it in a condi-
ton to be washed away. In time,
and in not very many years, either,
the soil will be washed from the
hill tops and the rains that fall
will run off at once. The main
value of trees, shrubbery, and
grass, on the mountain soil is to
hold the water and gradually allow
it to run in the streams, keeping
them there all the year"
Elwood Mead, formerly with
the State Agricultural college of
this state but now with the govern
ment investigating engineer force
assented to the statements made
by Mr.. Nettleton and added:
'"Then it would be simply the
history of Palestine over again"
EYES," went on Mr.. Nettleton,
''and of Persia and of Spain. In
the latter country it is only about
$50 years ago that the destruction
of forests in the southern slope of
Pyrenees commenced, and now the
whole country is laid waste. The
people of Spain and Of France
were then quarreling rs they u.s.
ually have been, and the Spanish
destroyed all of the immense for
ests on their side of the mountains.
The Malaga river running through
the city of Malaga, was one of the
principle streams of this section.
The rivers we're all short, running
from the mountains to the sea,
and through a fertile country.
The forests were cut and burned
away, and the heavy rains in the
denuded hillsides washed away all
the soil, carrying it down when it
filled the beds of the streams. l
saw houses, built 200 years ago,
that had been covered by this de-
bris. But the most serious result
was in the mountains where the
soil was carried away. 1t is now
useless to plant trees, for there is
nothing on the hills to sustain
them. All that is left is the big
bare rocks. The country is de-
wasted.
"Thc Malaga river, once a live
stream, is now like Cherry creek,
dry the greater part of the year,
its bed filled with mountain debris.
When heavy rains are in the
mountains the water runs off at
once, creating the same havoc as a
cloudburst up Cherry creek. Then
the stream goes dry until the next
storm.
1.-THE Spanish people have nc
use for any tree that does not bear
fruit or nuts. They fail to see the
utility of shade trees of any kind
When Napoleon ruled the country
early in this century he ordered
that every owner of land should
plant so many trees a year. The
Spanish planted olive trees, which
are practically useless for shade
and the order was of little avail.