55 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which had proved so fruitful and stimulating might be continued 

 and enlarged. The event has proved the wisdom of President Cleve- 

 land's selection, for each successive Congress has increased the appro- 

 priation and enlarged the function of the survey. 



A comparison of the appropriations for the current fiscal year 

 with those made for the fiscal year 1894, just preceding Mr. Wal- 

 cott's accession to the directorship, shows enlargement in many direc- 

 tions. The various items providing for the geological work proper, 

 and the work in paleontology, chemistry, statistics, etc., show an 

 increase of $22,000, besides an item of $50,000 for hydrography, 

 which was not separately recognized in the earlier bill, although the 

 work had then been initiated. 



The body of work to which the title of hydrography is applied 

 consists in the determination of existing water supply, both in 

 streams and underground, and in the discussion of the economic 

 availability of this supply for agricultural, municipal, and other uses. 

 The importance of such work to agriculture and sanitation, and the 

 need of investigation under national auspices, have been recognized 

 for some years, but there has been doubt as to the particular bureau 

 to which the research should be intrusted, and the responsibility has 

 been shared at various times by the Geological Survey and the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. It is now lodged wholly with the Geo- 

 logical Survey. 



From the year of its organization the Geological Survey has per- 

 formed a large amount of topographical work, making maps on 

 which are shown not only roads, towns, streams, etc., but the shape of 

 the surface. For a much longer period the United States Land 

 Office has been engaged in surveys for the purpose of dividing the 

 public land into townships, sections, and minor cadastral divisions, 

 as a basis for transfer to individual settlers. The two works have to 

 a considerable extent covered the same areas, but the purposes and 

 methods of work were so different that for a long time it did not seem 

 practicable to unite them. Recently, however, an extensive experi- 

 ment has been made in that direction. The bills appropriating 

 money for the land surveys have been so phrased as to permit the 

 Secretary of the Interior to have part of the work done by the Geo- 

 logical Survey, and the experience of three years, involving the ex- 

 penditure through the survey of about $400,000, has shown that 

 by using the administrative methods of the Geological Survey the 

 two works can be carried on conjointly with less cost than was for- 

 merly found necessary for the cadastral surveys by the Land Office 

 alone. For the present fiscal year the sum of money thus assigned 

 to Mr. Walcott's direction is $241,500. 



Long agitation with reference to the waste of timber on the pub- 



