EDITORIAL 119 



nature of the growth, for where fire injures the soil the forest cover is dis- 

 tinctly changed. Undesirable and useless species like the bird cherry often 

 cover the land, and it may be from one to three centuries on crippled soils 

 before it is possible for a spruce forest to get footing again. 



The reason for this great change is found in the fact that during the last 

 twenty years about 129,000,000 have been invested in northern New Hampshire 

 alone in the paper and pulp industry and in New England $140,000,000; but 

 one must not hold the papermakers to blame. It is not reasonable to expect 

 them to donate the land and forest for the sake of other economic interests. 

 The problem in the Appalachian Mountains concerns all of the eastern states ; 

 its interstate character and its bearing upon navigable streams makes it a 

 problem for the Congress of the United States. 



How long shall we — a rich and powerful people, with all the knowledge 

 of modern science and all the resources of modern engineering at our com- 

 mand, and with the experience of older and less enlightened countries for a 

 warning — how long shall we suffer this to be without applying the necessary 

 and obvious remedy, the remedy that wiser people have already applied? 



TO SAVE THE CRAWFORD NOTCH 



XN DIRECT line with our comments last month on the noteworthy pro- 

 gress in New Hampshire in forestry is the movement now on foot to 

 secure the purchase by the state of the Crawford Notch. No action 

 would give better proof of the good faith of the state in its advocacy of national 

 ownership of the central White Mountain region. We have always held that 

 a considerable part of this problem of foi-est preservation must be worked out 

 through state ownership. New Hampshii'e now has a state forest service 

 under competent direction and is in a position to undertake the ownership and 

 management of forest land for the general benefit. To say this is in no wise 

 inconsistent with the proposition that there is an opportunity and a duty for 

 the national government in this mountain country. The interstate relations 

 of the region create conditions there for which one state should not be held 

 solely responsible, and the whole problem is one of too great magnitude for a 

 state with the means of New Hamp.shire to handle alone. As has been urged 

 before in these pages, a problem of this kind is one which involves the co- 

 operation of nation, state, and private owner. 



The opportunities for the establishment of state forests are numerous 

 throughout New Hampshire, but no better beginning of the policy could be 

 made than by acquiring Crawford Notch. 



This remarkable mountain pass has many claims upon the people of New 

 Hampshire. Historically, as a highway between the north and south, it has 

 interesting associations. It is one of the most picturesque regions of the 

 White Mountains, and thousands of people have passed each year by rail along 

 its mountain sides or by carriage or motor car along the road that winds like 

 a thread through the forest shades of the valley floor. The Notch is valuable 

 largely through its forests. Strip the mountains of these and this beautiful 

 pass would become a barren waste. The steep mountain sides along the Notch 

 will not bear heavy cutting. It would rapidly be followed by destructive slides 

 laying bare the rocks. The Notch is the upper valley of the Saco, which has 

 its source just above the north gateway and tumbles swiftly down the sharp 

 descent until it spreads out upon the Conway intervales. Down the precipit- 

 ous sides of the mountains that guard the Notch flow a thousand feeders of 

 the river, having their sources in the springs maintained by the forests on the 

 mountain side. Cut off these forests and remove the protecting soil and it is 

 very evident what the result would be— alternations of flood and drought. 



