54 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and could not be "taken out" of Michigan without destroying thousands of 



acres. 



Nothing could be more absurd. Has Michigan any mountains like the 

 Rockies, Sierras, Cascades, Olympics, or other Pacific ranges in which most of 

 the national forests in the six states are located. If it had how many Michi- 

 gan farms and homes would be found among them? 



Again, the national forests are not "taken out" of a state. The land is 

 simply devoted to its best uses — timber production and watershed protection. 

 It is "reserved" only from private exploitation which would destroy it for 

 the purposes indicated for it by the natural topography. This is true of the 

 larger part of the acreage referred to. 



We suggest that the anti-national forest statisticians devote a part of 

 their efforts to a tabulation of the exact amount of land available for agri- 

 culture and settlement included in the reserves and then study the land laws 

 and the practice of the Forest Service to determine how much of this is actu- 

 ally cut off from settlement. The imposing figures they now use would be ma- 

 terially diminished by such a study, and the study would serve a useful 

 purpose in that it would correct misconceptions, instead of creating them. 



CURRENT LITERATURE 



REVIEWS 



The Conservation of Natural Resources in 

 the United States. By Charles Richard 

 Van Hise. New York, Macmillan Com- 

 pany, 1910. Pages 413. Price, $2.00 



Dr. Van Hise's orderly statement and 

 summary ot the main facts and principles 

 of conservation is exactly what is needed. 

 The report ot the Conservation Commis- 

 sion, from which he has drawn largely for 

 facts, is not likely to be much used by 

 the general reader or student. This vol- 

 ume, of about four hundred pages, makes 

 a convenient manual for the special student 

 or the average citizen. It contains the 

 substance of twenty lectures given at the 

 University of Wisconsin. Its purpose is 

 to furnish a correlated statement of the 

 essential information which an intelligent 

 citizen might desire with reference to con- 

 servation. The author is probably as well 

 fitted as any man in the country for this 

 task by scientific knowledge, experience, 

 and close study of the conservation move- 

 ment in which he has taken an active part. 

 He disclaims any attempt at originality 

 and recognizes the impossibility of satis- 

 fying in a survey of this kind specialists 

 in any of the branches treated. He must 

 be given full benefit of these qualifying 

 statements in any estimate of the book, 

 for he has assumed a difficult, necessary, 

 but rather thankless task and has done it 

 well. 



There is a brief introductory history of 

 the conservation movement and here we 



find it necessary to enter a slight criticism 

 of incomplete and inadequate treatment. 

 Dr. Van Hise recognizes the initial influ- 

 ence of the forestry movement in the devel- 

 opment of the conservation idea, but he en- 

 tirely overlooks the great work done in that 

 field by the American Forestry Association 

 since its organization in 1882. He gives 

 the credit for bringing about the organi- 

 zation of a government bureau of forestry 

 entirely to the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science and the rNa- 

 tional Academy of Sciences. The splendid 

 work done by these bodies deserves all the 

 praise that can be accorded them, but it 

 is not entirely just to overlook the con- 

 stant and effective work done through three 

 decades by the first real conservation or- 

 ganization in the country, which has built 

 up a national membership of several thou- 

 sand, and is still doing an important work. 

 The first really great national conserva- 

 tion congress was the American Forest 

 Congress of 1905, held under the auspices 

 of the American Forestry Association, 

 when the Hon. James Wilson was its presi- 

 dent and Gifford Pinchot the chairman of 

 its executive committee. 



Following the introduction. Part 1 deals 

 with the mineral resources of the country, 

 taking up successively coal, peat, petroleum 

 and natural gas. The metallic resources — 

 iron, copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver and the 

 subordinate metals — are then treated. Part 

 2 deals with the important subject ot water, 

 its sources, amount, run-off, navigation and 

 irrigation. Part 3 is devoted to forests and 



