proven beyond a doubt, 'the regions where this timber is found are the natural reservoirs from which our streams and rivers are fed,' then we may properly look there for the changes which have brought about these results.

"The volume of the rivers depend upon water supplied by springs, which, in turn, can only obtain their supply from rain-water absorbed by the soil, and passing by percolation into the channels which lead to them. In the forest the porous soil, often covered with a heavy coat of leaves, acts as a sponge by absorbing and holding at least a portion of the rainfall, and by a slow action either returning it to the air by evaporation from the leaf surface of the trees or by percolation to the springs in the lower ground. This effect of timber areas does not necessarily imply an increased rainfall, but merely a more economic use and distribution of the annual amount. As soon as the timber is removed, the character of the soil undergoes a change-be comes less porous and more compact, absorbs less of the rainfall by percolation, and allows more to escape by surface flow, or, in other words, lets it all go directly into the streams, instead of, by retarding its motion, allowing it to escape gradually, thus causing sudden floods, which must necessarily be followed, sooner or later, by low stages of water. During the winter, the result, though accomplished in a different manner, is the same: The forest, not only by radiation, but also by direct shelter from the sun, holds the snow so that the water only reaches the streams gradually, while that from the unsheltered land flows off rapidly and produces the effect noted. Assuming our argument to be correct, that our rafting season is shorter and more precarious than formerly, and that this is due to the cause which we have assigned, it naturally follows that as we continue to destroy our timber the difficulty will be augmented until it will soon reach a point which will very seriously affect a very important interest of our State."

In 1884 the writer (see report of Secretary of the Board, Annual Report of 1884, page 40) gave the following as the result of the investigations of that year:

"It is quite common to hear our older and middle-aged neighbors: assert, with considerable force and seeming certainty, that our present annual rainfall is not so great as when they were boys. That streams, which were known to them as boys, are now nearly or quite dried up.. That certain noted springs have failed very much in volume or have disappeared entirely. That well-known water powers have been seriously decreased or have been abandoned as nearly useless or of little value. All of these and other similar reasons are advanced to prove that, owing to the destruction of our forests, our annual rainfall has diminished.

"And yet, in spite of these facts (for they are facts), the writer fails, after no small amount of effort, extending over much of the time which has elapsed since the formation of our Board, to obtain any reliable data to prove that there has been any material decrease in our annual rainfall. It is true that we are more liable to periods of drouth than formerly, but, up on the other hand, we find that these periods have been counter-balanced by others of increased or more than usual rainfall; so that our records seem to prove that our average supply of rain is about the same as it was forty or fifty years ago, or as far back as our records extend.

"Admitting these facts, as they are presented by those who claim that there has been a change in our annual supply of rain, we must 5 BD. AGR.

explain or account for them upon some other hypothesis. Our correspondence and observation lead us to think that they can be much more satisfactorily accounted for on the theory of an unequal distri bution of the same amount of rainfall, and that the same causes which have produced this unequal distribution will continue to exert their influence until (unless prevented by a change in our present system of forest destruction) our seasons will be divided into two portions, which may be termed wet and dry, and which will take rank as such in the same manner as similar changes have been noted in other countries.

"Exactly how this change in the distribution of our rainfall is produced, or how it is to be remedied, is by no means so clear or so easily explained. We however think it is safe to assume that quite as much water passes down our streams, or ravines which were once streams, as formerly, and that if we could devise some plan by which we could retain the rainfall and guard against evaporation, so as to supply the surplus to the streams in continuous and regular amounts, our decreased springs and weakened water powers would become as effective as at any former time, and that the whole problem of our water supply would be solved.

"In past years our forests, by their shade and porous, open soil, accomplished this purpose, and, by retaining the surplus, gave it out by sundry springs to the streams in a regular and not too rapid supplies. In former years our forests, by their shade, prevented a too rapid evaporation from the surface, and thus prevented another present draft upon the source of supply. Formerly the forests, by the shade and shelter afforded by their trunks, retained the snow for a much longer period than now. Formerly the soil of the forest was always moist and open, permitting of the rapid absorption of the rain; now this same soil is generally hard and dry, and, instead of absorbing the water, permits it to rush off into the streams in torrents.

"Formerly our woodlands had no 'washes' and 'gullies,' where they now exist as a hindrance and an eyesore.

"As a natural consequence of this combination of circumstances and causes, we now find that the rafting season on the Susquehanna and its tributaries is not only much more uncertain than formerly, but that it is practically reduced to a period scarcely sufficient to convey the timber to tide-water, when formerly it extended over a period of several months. The water which annually passes down the river is probably as great as it was at any period of which we have a record, but its distribution is much more irregular and uncertain in the amount and continuation of its flow.

"The reports of our Committee on Forest and Forestry, and the correspondence of the Board, clearly demonstrate that the people of our State are alive to the importance of the problem and of the magnitude of the threatened evil. The annual messages of our two preceding Governors, and the well-known interest of our present executive officer, prove that all which is now needed is the proposition of some practical remedy; this once proposed and its practicability demonstrated the remedy may be applied; but it is just here, in the most important place, that we are weak. Thus far no practical plan has been offered; of theory we have plenty and to spare, but, as His Excellency Governor Hartranft once told you, 'No one offers anything practical' for our adoption.

"As a first and primary step let our Legislature, at its next session,

authorize the Governor to appoint a commission, of not less than five, whose duty it shall be to carefully investigate the whole matter, ascertain what other States and other countries have done; let them, by personal examination and by correspondence, ascertain the views and wants of the people in a matter of so much importance to their general welfare, and let this commission present a carefully digested report to the Governor and to the Legislature, and thus furnish us with some reliable information on which to build the structure. This commission should receive no remuneration beyond the actual and necessary expenses, and these should be limited to a reasonable amount, in the expenditure of which they should be held strictly accountable." A writer in Forest and Stream also gives a similar theory, as follows:

"As regards the influence of forests on rainfall. The primary sources are oceans, seas and lakes, from the surface of which water is being constantly evaporated by the sun's rays-the annual measure of evaporation is estimated to vary from two or three feet in high latitudes to eight or ten feet in the tropics. This vapor, borne along by ocean currents in their prescribed courses, is in part precipitated as rain on the ocean, in part borne landward, where the extent, locality and direction of the mountain chains, are mainly instrumental in determining the distribution of the rainfall over the land. Islands of no great area, and free from high mountain chains, are uniformly well watered, but even on islands having a high mountain chain, the eastern slopes of the mountain are invariably visited with a more liberal rainfall than the western; this is because the eastern currents, sweeping up from the tropics, pass through a region of greater evaporation than the western currents, which sweep down from the north.

"The influence of vegetation in contributing to the rainfall needs only a little explanation to render it apparent. Taking first the forest belt of the coast ranges; these are covered in winter with snow to a depth equal to from one to two feet of water, and in consequence of the spongy character of the mass constituting the forest floor-a mass made up of the decomposing leaves, branches and trunks of untold generations of past trees-the melting snow, instead of being immediately carried away by the streams to the river, sinks gently into the floor, and in part slowly percolates away to the streams which it maintains in perennial flow; the other portion is being constantly pumped up by the tree roots, and evaporated from their foliage, with precisely the same effect as if evaporated from the ocean, the spring and summer showers inborne by the sea serving to maintain the spongy floor in a greater or less degree of saturation all through the summer. Whenever the slightest breeze is borne inland, and the greater heat of the interior basin tends of itself to create a breeze inland, there is a constant inward flow of vapor which. in time condenses as rain. Within the basin, we have first the evaporation from the whole river system, which alone covers a considerable area, and wherever the banks of the river or other low lands, with the subsoil water at easy depth, are clothed with forest, the trees by means of their roots pump up the subsoil water, and appreciably-if the area of such forest is considerable-enlarge the surface of continuous evaporation, with a proportionate increase of rain; finally, the whole vegetation of the central region, even although its roots do not penetrate to the subsoil waters, pumps up the water from the soil and subsoil, evaporates, and receives it afresh as rain or dew in continuous succession. From this it will

be seen that the fertility of the great central zone of this continent may be due, in small measure only, to the moisture inborne by oceanic current, and that by no means the least important source of its fertility is the economy exercised by its vegetation in maintaining a constant circulation of the moisture proper to the region, and preventing its being drained off by the rivers as it falls. It will hence be readily inferred that an existing vegetation can maintain itself in vigorous growth, with an amount of extraneous aid, in the matter of rain supply, that would be unequal to the origination of a new vegetation, if the old were cleared away.'

To summarize we then have the following:

1. That there is no proof that there has been any material diminution of the average annual rainfall during the past 40 or 50 years.

2. That the effect produced by the removal of our forest has been upon the distribution of the rainfall and not upon its actual amount or volume.

3. That the restoration of our forest area to its former proportions would cause our rainfalls to be more regularly distributed over the whole area.

4. That in effect forests regulate the supply which is given through the springs and smaller streams to the rivers.

5. That any attempt at re forestration, to be permanent and to a degree successful, must be accompanied with the item of profit to the individual land owner.

6. That the planting of trees along the public roads is not desirable when the cost of keeping the roads in repair is taken into consideration.

7. That exemption from all of the tax now levied upon such lands will not be sufficient to induce and remunerate the owner for simply permitting the growth of the natural timber and take the chances of losses by forest fires.

8. That until we adopt some plan of preventing forest fires, by the removal of their cause, we need not hope to see any large attempts at re-forestry successful.

9. That we have thus far no practical assistance from the State in the direction of encouragement for forest planting.

At the Bellefonte meeting of the Board, in alluding to the effect of taxation upon the growth of forests, Major Keller spoke as follows: "I venture one thought upon the subject of Forestry, and in a certain sense it is connected with the essay, also which has just closed. I was very much impressed with what Professor Buckhout said with reference to the necessity of encouraging forestry; and this thought particularly struck me, that since it takes so long to grow a forest, what more pressing need is there than for us to preserve as far as possible the forests that we still have? As connected with the essay which has just been read, I would ask those present who call to mind the great failure of crops in this county in 1886, whether the fields, which laid immediately under the shade and shadow of general woods and forests, did not yield much better crops of grain than those exposed and bare? Whether they did or not, the value of forests, in the light of views presented by Professor Buckhout, must be apparent to every one. If I could induce you to carry away this one thought, which might perhaps take root and produce practical effect, I feel I should have done some little service,-that is, let us avoid as much as possible a further destruction of our forests, by not having them taxed out of

existence. It may not have occurred to many of you present that the wholesale destruction of much of our forest timber the past few years has been occasioned by the fact that owners could not afford to keep them by reason of the excessive taxes imposed upon them. Has it occurred to you that the forest lands are assessed so nearly the value of farm lands that in twenty years a man will have paid for them in taxes? Consequently the man who owns forest lands, if he is taxed for them on the true market value, the same as the man who owns a productive farm is taxed, (what it will bring in the market), you are simply forcing that man to slaughter his timber in order to realize something out of it.

"Now the true rule, it seems to me, is this: The forest property is non-producing property, and the other is not. Farm your land, and at the end of the year it is worth as much as at the beginning of the year; and you have secured a certain amount of income from it. But the forest tract is worth perhaps a very small trifle more at the end of the year than it was at the beginning; but you have had no income whatever from it.

"I have in mind instances where owners of valuable timber tracts have been simply forced to put a saw-mill and the axe to them, because they could not afford to keep them and pay the taxes.

"Now it occurs to me that perhaps if this body will bear this fact in mind, you will soon see what is the proper remedy for this. I have not considered this matter exhaustively; but it seems to me if a law were framed, it should be uniform all over the State; and that there should be borne in mind the importance of a lessened tax on forest lands by reason of the great public benefit which they are to the communities in which they are located; and that they should be assessed upon a different rate than what income producing property is."

REPORTS OF HONORARY OFFICERS.

REPORT OF THE BOTANIST.

By THOMAS MEEHAN, Botanist of the Board, Germantown, Pa.

The work of the botanist the past year has been mainly in connection with correspondence from parties in search of information.

The subject of weeds and their eradication is a fruitful theme. Those which spread from underground or creeping root stalks are always more or less troublesome, as it often seems that the more they are cut by the hoe or mangled by the cultivator, the more they spread. Specimens of the couch grass, so call from the wiry roots when washed and dried being used in some parts of the world as a stuffing for mattresses or couches, have been received from several parties who complain of its great persistence in spite of efforts to destroy it. It is closely allied to wheat, Triticum sativum; and is known as Triticum caninum. It is sometimes known as twitch grass and witch grass, both being corruptions of the original couch grass. One correspondent claims that it is generally known in his locality as devil grass, a name likely to be given to any weed that persistently endeavors to take care of itself. It can only be repeated that no weed need be a