Slimmer Meeting. 61 



of practical value. Forty years ago the northern half of that state, 

 comprising about 7,500,000 acres, was a continuous forest and less 

 than 20 years ago it was described as one of the densest forests in the 

 United States. Today nearly all the surface is logged over and most 

 of the pines are gone from the mixed forest, and the greater portion 

 from the pineries proper have been cut. Eight million acres are desti- 

 tute of forest and 40 per cent, of this is entirely bare of wood growth. 

 'Only one-eighth of this surface is in farm lands and this unproduc- 

 tive land is fast increasing under the present system of lumbering. 



Other states have been as extravagant in their use of lumber, 

 beared as we have been in a nation's abundance, it is hard for us to 

 realize what this loss of forest cover means to us. The lessons learned 

 hy France and Germany, we have not applied to ourselves, in spite of 

 the warnings of nearly a quarter of a century. The loss of wood is but 

 one of the reasons why we should study this question of forestry. 

 There are others that touch more closely the farmer's interest. In 

 planting extensively of fruit it is a well known fact that we should 

 consider the nearby forest growth. Reports from Illinois and Con- 

 necticut tell of raising peaches in the days before the forests were cut 

 away. As wind breaks they protect the farm from winter's cold and 

 even from the hot winds of summer, thus modifying the extremes of 

 temperatures. 



In the forest the water supply is increased 50 to 60 per cent, above 

 that of an open field, and this extra supply is absorbed by the subsoil 

 and yielded to the springs. On account of the foliage the trees protect ■ 

 the ground and evaporation is less both from the sun and wind. The 

 snows of winter are absorbed more slowly and the ground receives a 

 greater proportion of the moisture. The heavy shower, that _ beats 

 down in the open field and runs off the surface, in the forest, because 

 of the foliage, reaches the ground with less force and with the' litter on 

 the forest floor helps to save to the soil the greater per cent, of the 

 moisture. 



In Nevada the forests have been cut from the mountains and the 

 winter snows melt rapidly and rush to the valley below. Irrigation 

 w^as dependent on the mountain streams, but now. when the water is 

 most needed, the rivers are dry and Lake Humboldt is on a much lower 

 level than the farm lands. Nevada is the only state in the Union 

 which has decreased in population in the last ten years, and it is the 

 forest loss afifecting the water supply and farming hand that is con- 

 sidered the cause. 



Years ago there was a canal cut between the Wisconsin and Fox 

 rivers to allow of navigation. Since the loss of the forests in the north- 



