FOREST BELTS OF WESTERN KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. I I 



or who needs a helping hand to interest him in caring properly for 

 his property. The preservation of wild plant life wonld thus 

 fall along easy lines and perhaps become a dominant feature. 



The writer was one of a few who leased an island in the Po- 

 tomac river above Washington some years ago. We have built a 

 cottage and some crude narrow paths, yet in other respects, as 

 nature made it, so we leave it — a beauty spot, a bit of nature 

 amidst the surrounding culture, where the botanist, the orni- 

 thologist, the entomologist and others may pursue their investiga- 

 tions, but not by destructive methods — a place where we seek 

 seclusion from city cares and which we hope will remain as 

 long as the Potomac flows past our rocky shores. 



FOREST BELTS OF AVESTERN KANSAS AND 



NEBRASKA. 



A Bulletin of the Forest Service Dealing With Use and 

 Means of Extending Them in This Region. 



That forests will extend, of themselves, even under disad- 

 vantageous conditions, over the moister soils of western Kansas 

 and western Nebraska, and that this natural extension may be 

 fostered with profit, are the interesting facts brought out in Bul- 

 letin No. 66 of the U. S. Forest Service, of which Royal S. Kel- 

 logg is the author. 



The climate of nearly all this region is essentially semiarid, be- 

 ing characterized by light and unevenly distributed precipitation, 

 high winds, excessive evaporation, and great fluctuations of tem- 

 perature — conditions clearly unfavorable to the thrifty growth of 

 manv forest trees. Fortunately, however, most of the scanty 

 rainfall, which would otherwise often prove insufficient, comes 

 during the growing season. As regards trees, the result of ad- 

 verse climatic factors is that the common hardwoods are con- 

 fined closely to the water courses or to comparatively wet situa- 

 tions. Even the permanent subterranean water is not sufficient 

 for all species ; the excessive evaporation also limits plant dis- 



* 



tribution. Trees have been killed in seasons of severe drought. 



