NATIONAL FORESTS AND THEIR PRESERVATION. 41 



The report first reviews the forestry poHcy that has already been 

 adopted by various foreign governments, and shows the value that has 

 come from intelligent control. Thus the annual revenue from the 

 government forests of France and Algiers exceeds ^6,000,000, and 

 the expenses for 1896 were estimated at $3,300,000. The forest 

 administration of Prussia contributes a large sum to the revenue, the 

 annual receipts being about $14,000,000 and the expenditures about 

 $8,000,000. In British India the surplus has grown from less than 

 2,000,000 rupees in 1870-71 to almost 7,500,000 rupees in 1894-95. It 

 is clear, therefore, that when viewed solely from the point of dollars 

 and cents, the ends attained amply justify the means. 



The report then takes up the reserved forest lands of our public 

 domain and shows how the timber is being wasted and destroyed. 

 Forest fires cause the annual destruction of thousands of acres of valu- 

 able standing timber, and the nomadic sheep husbandry, by grazing 

 off the seedling trees, prevents re-foresting. Unfortunately not the 

 least source of loss is from timber taken from the public domain 

 without the knowledge and consent of the government and without 

 even a pretense of payment. 



The committee then formulate a careful system of forest adminis- 

 tration, which shall include a competent force of employes and will 

 not cost to exceed $250,000 annually for the first five years. This 

 seems a very small sum when compared with the value of the property 

 involved, and of the devastation which must come without it. 



In the last number of this journal Mr. Jas. A. Graves described 

 the growth of new plants of the Sundew ( Droscra rotiindi'olia) from 

 the surface or edges of old leaves. The following sketches, which un- 

 fortunately came too late to accompany his note, show very clearly 

 the phenomenon which he described. — [Editor.] 



FIG. I. 



Fig. I— Leaf natural size. Fig. 2.— Old leaves, with new plants; much enlarged. 



