The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-05-09

when accomplished, will prove to be
utterly Useless for TIE purposr for
which it Was intel:,'ed
It WI no: ne qr3st>vEed tha- pre-
G. 1pitation is the primary cause OF
floods. 1t could be shown that forests
can have little or no effect on the
amount of precipitation, but this fact
is now so generally accepted by me-
teorologists as to need no discussion.
That being true, the question arises
whether the forests restrict the run
off and by gradual feeding of the water
into the stream prevent food condi-
tions. In this connection Prof. Cleve-
land Able, who has been called the
father of the national weather ser
vice, and who is a member of the Ma
tional Academy of Science, says:
"The cultivated soil outside the for
est, when ploughed and broken open
down to a depth of eight inches, acts
as sponge to retain water quite as
we'll as does the ordinary humus OF a
forest, especially when we consider
that in a forest less rain actually en-
ters the humus."
More Absorbed by PlOughed Field.
Tn other words. the ploughed field alb
serbs more water than the, forest and
retains it as we'll. To reach the point
of saturation then requires less rail-
fall in the forest than in the field
With given amount of rain the run
off will necessarily be as great from
the forest as from the field. That the
amount and speed of the run-off de-
termines the character of the rise IN
the river is self-evident. Stated diff
ferently, the amount of rain that falls
on a saturated or impermeable sur
face in a given length of time deter
mines the suddenness and height OF
foods in the smaller streams. In the
larger streams the food height is de-
pendent on the time relation of floods
in the various tributaries. Floods
may occur in every small tributary
and yet fail to produce food height
at any point of the main stream At
other times floods of no greater volume
in the tributaries may be so timed as
to produce disastrous flood in the
main channel. These facts are all we'll
understood by the local forecasters OF
the weather bureau, who are charged
with the duty and the responsibility of
issuing warnings for the protection OF
lives and property.
The engineers of the United States
army as well as civilian engineers are
generally agreed that no connection
exists between forests and floods. Col.
B. M. Chittenden, member American
Society of Civil Engineers, has spoken
as follows on this subject:
"'The constantly reiterated statement
that floods are increasing in frequency
and intensity, as compared with for
mer times, has nothing to support It.
There are, it is true, periods when
foods are more frequent than at 9th
ers, and hasty conclusions are always
drawn at such times, but, taking the
records year after year for consider
able periods, no change worth consid-
ering is discoverable. The explanation
of these periods of high water, like the
one now prevailing, must, of course,
be sought in precipitation. That is
where floods come from, and it is very
strange that those who are looking so
eagerly for a cause Of these floods
lump at an indirect cause and leave
the direct one entirely untouched. In
the records of precipitation, wherever
they exist, will he founo Iul1 anu
complete explanation of every one Of
the foods that have seemed unusually
frequent and severe in recent years" y"
At the request of the chairman of
the committee on agriculture Of the
house of representatives in 1908, Prof
Willis L. Moore, chief of the weather
bureau, prepared Report on the In
auenoe of Forests. on Climate and on
Floods" Prof. Moore's conclusions,
reached after thorough investigation,
are as follows:
81. Any marked climatic changes
that may have taken place are Of wide
extent and not local, are appreciable
only when evidence is strong that the
cutting away OF the forests has had