466 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sible under existing conditions to continue the present forests by 

 judicious cutting and care of the young growth, it will be impossible 

 to reforest the lands if the present method of lumbering and pastur- 

 ing and the annual forest fires are continued. Where the rainfall 

 is limited to a few weeks or months, the only water available for 

 forest growth during the remaining portion of the year is that held 

 in the soil by the presence of the forest cover. The experience of 

 all who have attempted to start young trees in the open, semiarid 

 country has been that, unless artificially watered during the dry 

 season, the young trees die under the influence of the scorching sun 

 and hot, dry winds. 



As the result of a personal inspection of a considerable portion 

 of the Sierra forest reserve of California, I am fully convinced that 

 the preservation and development of the agricultural interests of 

 the great wheat and fruit districts west of the range depend largely 

 upon the preservation and increase of the forest covering of the 

 region whose drainage is tributary to the agricultural areas. The 

 same is true of the Los Angeles and San Bernardino areas of the 

 southwestern portion of the State. Where the forest and brush 

 have been removed, either by fire, cutting, or pasturage, the slopes- 

 are dry and dusty, the water flows off almost as rapidly as it falls, and 

 carries along with it a load of sand and gravel to be deposited in the 

 irrigation ditches and over the fields of the lowlands. 



A comparison of such a denuded area with an adjoining forested 

 or brush-covered district shows at once that the forest covering must 

 be preserved if the water supply is to be stored by natural means for 

 irrigation. 



Of the influence of sheep pasturage on reforesting there is a dif- 

 ference of opinion among men acquainted with the forest reserves. 

 In the semiarid region the struggle for existence is so great that all 

 vegetation needs and must have the advantage of every condition 

 at all favorable to its growth, if it is to grow at all. If the herbage 

 and seedlings are destroyed by pasturage and the tramping of the 

 sharp hoofs of sheep, the fate of the future forest growth and storage 

 of water is settled, and its destruction foreordained. In the well- 

 watered sections of Oregon, Washington, north Idaho, north Mon- 

 tana, and perhaps the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, the effect 

 of pasturage of sheep would be very slight, as the growth of vegeta- 

 tion is rapid and luxuriant; but in the Sierra and southern reserves 

 of California and similarly conditioned areas the damage is great, 

 and even the pasturage of cattle in many localities will be detri- 

 mental. As soon as the reserves are carefully and intelligently 

 studied by practical foresters, I think it will be found that each re- 

 serve has peculiar conditions that must be considered before com- 



