Norwich bulletin., 1920-08-14
RUTHLESS CUTTING OF TREES ON CITY RESERVOIR PROPERTY
 (Continued From Page FiVe)
Four Large Timbers.

A short distance to the northwest ofI the mill site one comes upon four large tfnbers Two of these timbers are beau tiful specimens of oak and the other two are large timbers of chestnut. These tirnbers measure 14x14 inches and are 10 10 F feet long. One of the accompany ing photographs shows the timbers, the two at the left hand side being the oak tinbers.
 As one goes about this watershed many evidences of where live trees have been cut and blighted chestnut trees left standing are shown and it has been esti- mated that the damage done by taking of trees in the manner in which they have been taken cannot be repaired in 50 years Trees on a watershed are one of the most important factors of good watershed. They prevent evaporation and il has been estimated that they con serve at least million gallons of water per square mile. Rotting brush piles on the other hand, are detrimental as they decay and are liable to contaminate the water and are a great fire risk in such places
 Wholesale Cutting of Timber.
 From Stony Brook a visit to the Mea- dow Brook or Bog Meadow watershed was made Here the wholesale cutting of wood IS even more noticeable than at the Stony Brook site. A large acreage has been practically cleaned of timber, only 9 few scrub trees being left stand ing No attempt has apparently been made to clean up the debris for every few feet are brush piles and tree tops.
 Looking east from the mill site one can see the large amount of land that has been cut over In the foreground of one Of the cuts shown is the refuse from the mill. bark and huge pile of saw dust The picture does not include the whole area cut over for there is large tract 10 the right that is in the same condition as the other filtered with brush heaps. tree-tops and other debris.
 Going from the mill site in a westerly dierction toward the Bog Meadow basin through the woods one again sees the devastation of the ruthless axe. Oaks, chestnuts and black birches have been picked out. judging by the stumps, for their size and cut down; the untrimmed tree-tops being left to decay where they fell Here are hundreds of cords of good marketable cord-wood that is going to waste and it will take thousands of dol lars to clean up the debris on this water shed.
 Near the Bog Meadow basin is located the shack where it is apparent that the woodchoppers made their home while cutting. This building is located so that any refuse from toilets or outhouses would be liable to leach into the basin. Around the place is the refuse that was left when the place was vacated
 Picked Ont Big Timber.
 All over this watershed there has been ruthless cutting of big timber; the small CT timber is still standing. An idea of the size of the trees cut can be had from the photograph taken of a stump on this shed The picture shows an oak stump from which grew two large trees. Each of the trees was Is inches in diameter where they were cut, giving a total dia- meter to the twin stump of 32 inches.
 Near the entrance to the place where the wood has been cut one is impressed by the large amount of cord wood that has been piled up. Smaller piles were frequently seen about the cut-over acre age but the piles at this point were ex- cePtionally large. One pile measured about 120 feet long, five feet high and eight feet wide. the wood having been four of these piles within short dis tance of each other and aA were of about the same size It was estimated that the piles contained between 200 and three hundred cords.
 One of the piles appears in a photo graph showing in the foreground a small pile but extending in back of it from the>extrelne right of the picture TO the left is large pile. This pile in the picture might be taken for a stone wall but it is cord wood containing white birch, oak. chestnut and black tirch and other woods
 How much wood has been taken from ;he sites on both watersheds it is prac- tically impossible to estimate and can only be ascertained by an expert, but from the debris left on the sites it is ap- parent to the average person that the amount is very large.