TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



83 



more arid regions — desert. It is in 

 those areas where the effect of dimate 

 has been supplemented by the effect of 

 man and his herds, that man has trans- 

 formed the face of the earth from a 

 garden to a desert. I shall ask you to 

 go with me across such regions from 

 China, through Asia, through Asia 

 Minor, into Europe, and to look upon 

 the experience which the race has had 

 in that long migration." 



The lecturer then proceeded to illus- 

 trate the effect of denudation in vari- 

 ous countries of Asia and Europe. The 

 plains and mountains of northern 

 China, where climatic conditions are 

 critical and where the activity of man 

 has been most destructive, were de- 

 scribed, and views were shown giving 

 the barren aspect of hills which have 

 been deforested witliin the last two 

 centuries. 



Scenes in central Asia, where the 

 deserts have overwhelmed the cities of 

 the most ancient populations, were fol- 

 lowed by others in Asia Minor. Here 

 the scant herbage and wretched peas- 

 ants in the foreground of far-reaching, 



utterly denuded plateaus and mountains 

 scarcely served to suggest the lands of 

 Assyrian and B'abylonian and Persian 

 civilization. Through these districts, 

 where marched the armies of Xerxes 

 and Alexander the Great, a camel train 

 now finds scarcely enough water. 



Again the scene was shifted west- 

 ward to Italy and the lecturer describ- 

 ed the Northern Appenines and the 

 bare slopes of Dalmatia, where the 

 Romans obtained the timber for their 

 ships of commerce and war. With 

 characteristic thoroughness they left 

 not a tree upon the hills. 



In Southern France, in tl^e valley of 

 the Durance, bare slopes and the over- 

 loaded river bore testimony to the same 

 relations of deforestation to excessive 

 erosion. 



And finally, a view of an utterly de- 

 nuded area in northern China was 

 placed in contrast to the superb forests 

 of the southern Appalachians, and the 

 question was put: "Which shall we 

 pass on as the heritage to future gene- 

 rations?"' 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION 



THE first business of the morning 

 session of Thursday, January 14, 

 was the report of the committee 

 on nominations. The committee's re- 

 port was read and adopted without 

 change, and the chairman was instruct- 

 ed to cast one ballot, for the Associa- 

 tion, for the ticket, which was done. 



Mrs. Donald McLean, president-gen- 

 eral of The Daughters of the American 

 Revolution, was the first speaker of the 

 session, her address being on the sub- 

 ject of "The Daughters of the Ameri- 

 can Revolution and the Conservation 

 Movement." Mrs. McLean's address 

 was punctuated with sallies of wit that 

 enlivened the session and put those 

 present in the best of humors. In part 

 Mrs. McLean said : 



"I was in the Adirondack? a year 

 ago, and while there I met a charming 

 young forester, whom I dubbed 'Robin 



Hood' — as I might dub any of you 

 gentlemen here present 'Robin Hood.' 

 He represented the State of New York, 

 in the preservation of the Adirondack 

 forests. Until that time, outside my 

 own natural, sentimental interest in 

 anything and everything pretaining to 

 my country, I had known very little 

 of the processes of conservation, and I 

 must say that I was extremely im- 

 pressed with two points, namely, the 

 minutia with which everything must be 

 arranged to bring results, and the ab- 

 solutely necessary courage to believe 

 the results from the minutia. We were 

 told all these things, and were supplied 

 with literature upon forestry, and then 

 we were told about a wonderful forest 

 reserve, away up in the woods. I be- 

 came anxious to see it. and at last I 

 was taken up there. I looked, and 

 looked, and looked everywhere. Of 



