The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-03-12
are destructive.

dl
Man, In u-nconscious1y enlarging the
surface without vegetation, with detrd
ment to b forests, oncur o one
general mutability of all these forces,
causing conditions under which life
would be Impossible.
All the effects of the partial destruc
TONS, frequently -imperceptible, in re
gard to the surface of the whole coun
try, but always of positive conse-
auence in the zone where they appear,
combine together, following b. natur
al laws of things. and without doubt
ItEey will give Is result great modi-
fcations for the total surface of the
globe And the loss of water will be
one of the first notifications.
For about a decade, a sensible di-
minution of water flowing over the
earth has been observed, and If this
phenomenon has not its origin only
eddy the great devastation of SO nee
essary vegetation must have increas-
ed it breaking the natural relation be-
tween h surface covered by forests
and that covered by smaller vegeta-
ton.
In each part, where the forests dis
appear, the springs diminish, and nee
essarily the modification of parts will
| affect the whole.
Why will so many partial effects.
perfectly manifested by a series of
positive phenomena, not have a gener
al result?
The lesson of the old countries
must not be despised; they have suf-
| fered very much from. the unlucky
consequences of the loss of their for
| ests. The countries of Asia Minor
ire, in this respect, a sad example.
There is Palestine, now arid and ster-
lie, without the famous cedars, under
whose shade formerly sprung crystal
waters that have disappeared forever.
Because of the irregularity of the
water courses and of the progressive
impoverishGnent of their springs, with
out speaking about other effects eqll-
| ally dangerous and coming from the
| same causes, the countries that have
not preserved their forests are men
aced with humiliation. They strug-
gle against those violent torrents
which the rivers annually become.
These rivers were formerly the de-
light of tneir landscapes, then tran
quill n flowing among fine hills,
clothed with beautiful forests, the soil
yet virgin of those horrible burrows
characteristic of the mountainous
lands, where the axe and fire have de-
stroyed all vegetation.
In those countries the water supply
" Il1C w 10 lDIuly
The rains are very irregular and the
small quantity OF water that falls
quickly rum off the surface, and cor
seGuently the sources of the streams
are not supplied.
Many of those countries, especially
in Europe, are now trying to avoid
the evil by replantation of the noun
tains and near the springs, but such
work, Notwithstanding it is profitable
1 n nra onn oiyn fhn co ~ r.nc,IJtc &c
the preservation of the spontaneous
vegetation and particularly of the for
ests. And the proofs of this truth,
said Mr.. Fabre, Inspector of Water
and Forests, "are in the Investigations
recently made in the French oceanic
basins and in the combination of all
works realized all owe the earth
This scientific man draws this conclu.
sion which is found in one of his ex
cellent articles published in the Tech
nfque S~anataire:" 1.-The regulating
effect that the soil, covered by spon-
%taneous vegetation, has on the water
regimen, OF the impoverishment OF
the sources, essentially results from
the physiological evolution and not
from the inertia of the matter, as it
was thought, in the epoch in which
the evil OF inundation caused the stu
dy of the replanting of the mountains.
The wholesoneness of waters, coming
from the lands so protected, is a con
sequence of the phenomena of the reg
ulation; it is a biological function of
those lands"
Forest influence is not confined
within the bound of limited regions
man cannot control it's course, pre-
venting its crossing the frontiers of
the countries, some time appearing We
ry far outside the where the
forests are. Therefore devastation of
the forests in one country can bring