The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-08-06
SAVE YOUR FOREsrs-RA1sE YOUR PORK.

of our Washington correspondent
this week which deserve special at
tention.
The first is in regard to the losses
suffered by the West as a result of
forest destruction-a problem to
which the people of North Carolina
have perhaps given less attention
than to any other of similar charac-
ter and Importance. We can now
think of no man in the State, save
Prof. j.. A. Holmes, who has ever
made any noteworthy efforts to in
terest the people in the matter. Yet
it is true that here in North Carolina
we are paying the penalty for forest
destruction no less certainly than
are the people of the West. This
year we have done so, just as they
have. In the destruction wrought
by the great May freshets of this
year, we paid a part of our penalty,
while almost unprecedented drouth
has caused many Western farmers to
repent of their sections folly. In
consistent does it appear that we are
in one breath attributing the in
creased evils of both floods and
drouths to our cause-forest destruc-
ton? Perhaps it seems so, but when
you give the matter a little thought
you find it perfectly consistent. The
case is very clearly stated in a recent
issue OF the Southern Farm Magazine
as follows:
s'Many streams that were once
perennial now dry up in the summer
months. This is not due to the de-
crease in rainfall, but the open ooun-
try hastens evaporation and pro,
notes the rapid passing off of the
water before the reservoirs beneath
the surface are supplied. When rain
falls on a surface covered with for
est trees it gently percolates the
earth, being retarded in it's flow by
the leaves and other trash common
to a fores6-covered surface, and thus
the terrestrial water has more time
to penetrate the earth. The shade
of the forest also prevents the sun
from shining upon the surface, and
so the process of evaporation is
greatly retarded. On an open sur
face where the rain falls the hot
earth engenders a most rapid evap,
grafton, and the water, unless the
rainfall is very cOpiOus, scarcely
penetrates the earth at all. All this
is philosophlcally true. If the whole
surface should be cleared it would be
a difficult matter in seasons of great
precipitation to prevent the most de-
s~tructive over1ows. Checked by no
impediments, the water in such a
case rushes down the slopes with
great rapidity into the basins of the
streams, swelling them beyond their
original limits. These two results,
Numerically opposed to each other,
come from deforestatiOn."
Just after the May freshet of this
year to which we have already allu
ded, the Charlotte Observer inter.
viewed Mr.. E. w. Myers, of the
United States Geological Survey
with regard to the matter. From it's
report we quote:
"The hurtful effects of the velocity
of the water was not due to the
amount of rain that fell, for the
weather bureau reports indicate that
much heavier rains have fallen in
the past and the volume of water was
carried off without injurious conse-
quence. The whole secret of the
bad effect and extent of this flood
lies in the deforestration in the
western part of the State. Along
the Linville river and in all parts of
western Carolina the country is be-
ing stripped of trees, and this fol-
lowed by the forest fires which
sweep away all vegetation or under
growth. When the rains fall on
such land there is nothing to retard
the current OF the water. With
great force it strikes the river; the
velocity of the Catawba is increased
by the mad violence of the water
and the current develops a wonderful
and dangerous power. Every man
who lives by the river, said Mr.
Myers, says, without hesitation, that
the cutting away of the timber is
entirely responsible for the serious
food"
1t was just after this May freshet,