124 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tor Eilot in Cambridge, Mass., with the pur- 

 pose of helping through a large individual 

 membership to put into practical effect the 

 conservation principles declared by the Con- 

 ference of Governors at the White House 

 in May, 1908. The association was launched 

 formally last October^ since which time, un- 

 der Doctor Eliot's personal direction, it has 

 secured a membership extending pretty gen- 

 erally over the country. It is announced 

 that an active campaign to extend that mem- 

 bership into every state and territory will be 

 carried on vigorousl}^ 



The conservation association has been 

 making a study of conser\'ation needs and 

 is prepared to recommend needed measures, 

 both Nationally and in the several states. Mr. 

 Pinchot said to-night : 



'The pleasantest thing about my election 

 as president of the National Conservation 

 Association is that I follow Doctor Eliot 

 by his own desire. It is most fortunate 

 that he will remain in the work as honorary 

 president. I appreciate keenly both the 

 honor and the chance to help the move- 

 ment. 



'The National Conservation Association 

 is not in politics. It believes that conserva- 

 tion is a great moral issue, broader than any 

 party or section and more vital than any 

 political question or measure now before us. 

 The rights and the property of the Amer- 

 ican people are at stake. This association 

 vyill be on the firing line in the conserva- 

 tion fight. Its immediate task will be to do 

 what it can toward getting good conserva- 

 tion laws in Congress. 



"Hereafter I expect to devote what en- 

 ergy I have to the association as I did 10 

 the Forest Service in the past. I believe 

 the National Conservation Association of- 

 fers the best way to help the cause of. con- 

 servation. In behalf of the association. I 

 ask for the active help, membership and in- 

 fluenceof every man and woman who be- 

 lieives in conservation and equal opportunity. 

 They are needed, and needed at once."-- 

 Telegram to Nezv York Sun. Januarv 23, 

 1910. 



Mr' ili iM 



Should Reclaim the Swamp Land 



The great possibilities that may be ob- 

 tamed from the reclamation of ' the im- 

 mensely rich and neglected swamp lands 

 of the south are told in a letter to G. A. 

 Cole, president of the Farmers' Union, by 

 B. F. Yoakum, the widely known railroad 

 man, who is urging the southern people 

 to interest the Government in doing things 

 for the agricultural advancement of their 

 section. 



Mr. Yoakum's letter deals with the im- 

 portance of the drainage of these swamp 

 lands, which he demonstrates are more 

 deserving, if anything, than the reclamation 

 of the arid lands of the West. Although 

 dramagc is much less costlv and produces 



greater results, the Government has been 

 induced to appropriate $114,000,000 to re- 

 claim arid lands by irrigation, while not one 

 cent has been expended for the reclamation 

 of the great swamp lands of North Carolina, 

 Virginia and other southern states. These 

 and other interesting facts are set forth by 

 Mr. Yoakum, whose letter on the subject is 

 regarded as the strongest word yet expressed 

 for the redemption of these neglected swamp 

 lands of the south. The matter is one that 

 is interesting southern congressmen. 



Mr. Yoakum's letter, in part, follows : 



"When we enter fashionable hotels and 

 restaurants in New York, Chicago and 

 other cities, and order half a cantaloupe 

 at 35 or 40 cents, and oranges, grapes and 

 luxuries from expensive, irrigated farms, 

 transported 2500 miles by rail, we do not 

 have to count the cost, but the wives of 

 millions of the working classes must con- 

 sider every penny that is expended for 

 food. 



'There are in the Mississippi Valley 

 25,000,000 acres of land, an area equal to 

 the state of Kentucky, with as rich and 

 as productive alluvial soil as can be found 

 anywhere in the world. The Government's 

 bureau of drainage has made several sur- 

 veys of districts in Arkansas, Mississippi, 

 and Louisiana, and its estimates , of the 

 cost of drainage of these lands ready for 

 cultivation is an average of $4.86 per 

 acre. 



"On the assumption that the Mississippi 

 Valley would be divided into farms of an 

 average size of eighty acres, which would 

 provide 312,500 farmers with comfortable 

 homes, and that there would be seven 

 persons, including children, to the farm, it 

 would increase the population of that section 

 2.200,000, which would be added to by the 

 population of numerous thrifty towns. Th^se 

 lands would immediately appreciate in value 

 over their present figure not less than $30 

 an acre, a total increase of $750,000,000 on 

 land values alone, to say nothing of the farm 

 machinery, live stock and other property 

 that _ constitutes a thrifty farming com- 

 rrlunit3^ The annual products of the Mis 

 sissippi valley awaiting drainage, at the low 

 average of $20 an acre, would be worth 

 $500,000,000 annually to the farmers culti- 

 vating these lands."— Oa^/a77tf (Cal.) 

 Tribune. 



1^ ^ '^ 



No Forest Encroachments 



In the annual report for his department 

 just_ issued to the President, Secretary of 

 Agriculture James Wilson makes some state- 

 ments that are of especial value just now 

 and which, to use his own words, refer to 

 an impression that has gained wide currency, 

 to the effect "that the National Forests 

 contain large areas of agricultural land to 

 the exclusion of settlement and large areas 

 of untimbered grazing land unjustifiablv 

 brought within the National Forest bound- 



