150 



3Iississippi Valley Ho^-ti cultural Society. 



KATIONAL TIMBER ACT. 



Justice to the West, where this act originated, and where most of the work 

 under its provisions has been done, would seem to demand at least a passing 

 notice in this paper, especially when so eminent a personage as Prof. Sargent 

 has publicly declared through the pages of the Nwth Americ-an Review, Ocioher 

 issue, 1882, the act a "disgrace to the statute books," '• has n'ot accomplished 

 what Wiis expected," " has given rise to gigantic frauds," " worthless as a 

 means of forest growth," " encourages planting trees where trees can not 

 grow unless artificially irrigated, and thus entails losses upon honest set- 

 tlers." Great personal regard for Prof. S.irgent, and high estimates of his 

 ability and standing as a scientist, lead to the belief that he has made these 

 assertions without proj^er consideration, or having in his possession reliable 

 information. Facts known to myself, ahd many others in the West familiar 

 with them, lead to different conclusions. 



Brief reference is made to the professor's assertion relating to arid charac- 

 teristics. Personal knowledge is had of over five hundred quarter sections 

 of land west of the hundredth meridian in Nebraska, where groves of from 

 five to thirty acres are planted on each, and growing w-ell without any irri- 

 gation whatever. This planting was done under the act, all growing well 

 and now thirty to forty feet in height. One man in this "arid region" com- 

 menced planting in 1875, and now has 45,000 flourishing trees — maple, ash, 

 walnut, box-elder and cottonwood, some thirty inches in circumference. 



Since the passsge of the timber culture act, there have been entered in Ne- 

 braska and Kansas, under its provisions, 5,932,520 acres of timber land, as 

 shown by official statistics. The general land office books show 39,617 en- 

 tries, or 396,170 acres planted in detail, as follows : 



YEAR. 



1873 

 1874 

 1875 

 1876 

 1877 

 1878 

 1879 

 1880 

 1881 

 1882 



NEBRASKA. 



Acres. 



21, 

 312, 

 130 

 106 



90, 

 195, 

 465 

 475, 

 240, 

 298, 



858 

 712 

 894 

 499 

 812 

 306 

 968 

 275 

 306 

 520 



Entries. 



137 



2,164 

 1,061 

 834 

 706 

 1,408 

 3,183 

 3,202 

 1,682 

 2,086 



KANSAS. 



Acres. 



1 



9,642 

 282,479 

 168,269 

 185,596 

 238,020 

 593,295 

 ,167,582 

 408,261 

 268,575 

 273,053 



Entries. 



60 

 1,954 

 1,265 

 1,354 

 1,666 

 4,031 

 7,776 

 2,891 

 1,924 

 1,933 



There may be frauds perpetrated under this act. It would be strange 

 rather than otherwise, were there none. Frauds are, or can be perpetrated 



