The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-09-17
The Waste Of Our
Natural Resources.

proximates $1,000,000 per day or
over one-sixth Of the value of tho
total production.
AS to public lands, or lands in gen.
eral, it is undeniable that we are fall
ing to secure as large crops as we
should, chiefly because we neglect
some fundamental principles, such
as the development M rotating crops,
and so blowing on sloping grounds as
to prevent washing away of the soil.
Although we have some of the rich
est soil in the world, the average
yield per acre from 1897 to 1905 was
1873 bushels of wheat in the United
States as against twenty-eight in Ger
many and 1872 in the United King
dom.
The facts as above set forth relat-
ing to the exhaustion of our fuel sup
plies indicate that in the future
years the value of water power as a
National asset will become increas-
ingIy evident. To utilize the full hy-
draulic power of the rivers it will
be of the greatest Importance to re-
duce the extremes of flow so that the
waste of water through floods may
be made minimum. Statistics
show, moreover, that the annual
damage done by floods is increasing
and has risen from $45, 100000 in
1900 to $118,000,000 in 1907. The
Merrimac River discharges at its per-
iod of highest flood seventy times as
much water per second as it does at
its lowest stage, and ten times as
much as its average flow throughout
the year. The regularity of the flow
may be increased by the preservation
of the forest, whose presence tends
to retard the run-off of the rainfall,
and by the construction Of reservoirs,
which will hold back the foods and
allow the surplus waterssto be drawn
off as needed, thereby increasing the
average flow throughout the year.
Particularly necessary is it to pro-
tect the forests on steep mountain
slopes, with a view to the prevention
of floods and the resulting destruc-
ton of arabic lands in the lower val
legs. In the Tenth Congress on In
ternational Navigation held in Milan
in 1905, the engineers were unanim-
Gus upon this point. M. Lafosse, the
French delegate, describes the evil
effect of stripping the mountain sides
as follows:
The soil, swept bare of It's forests,
exhausted by the abuses Of grazing,
loses quickly its vegetable stratum.
Washed periodically, and carried
away by melting snow and summer
storms, 1t is soon disaggregated. The
waters run toward the low points,
rolling before them gravel and boul-
ders, and even tearing out loose Sec
tions of rock. A thousand rivulets
cut out beds, the torrent is formed.
Scours begin, the banks are broken
down, and mass of mud, stones and
rocks invades the valley, destroying
everything as it passes.
Most Of the countries of Europe
have learned the lesson and taken
steps for the careful preservation of
their forests; and this has been done
not merely with a view to increasing
the timber supply, but in the inter-
ests Of navigation. Over half CEN
fury ago the French Government en-
tered upon a policy of forest protec-
tion and reforestation, and up to the
first Of January, 1909. they had ac-
quired no less than $40 square miles,
for these purposes. The efforts of
our own Government to solve this
question on a scale commensurate
with its importance should receive
the hearty cooperation of every State
of the Scientific American.