Note 211 — Chapter III · (continued 2)

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Public Works, after the terrible inundations of 1857, the Emperor thus happily expressed himself: "Before we seek the remedy for an evil, we inquire into its cause. Whence come the sudden floods of our rivers? From the water which falls on the mountains, not from that which falls on the plains. The waters which fall on our fields produce but few rivulets, but those which fall on our roofs and are collected in the gutters, form small streams at once. Now, the roofs are mountains—the gutters are valleys."

"To continue the comparison," observes D'Héricourt, "roofs are smooth and impermeable, and the rain water pours rapidly off from their surfaces; but this rapidity of flow would be greatly diminished if the roofs were carpeted with mosses and grasses; more still, if they were covered with dry leaves, little shrubs, strewn branches, and other impediments—in short, if they were wooded."—Annales Forestières, Déc., 1857, p. 311.