366 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



one of the striking statements with which the 

 book abounds: "There is good reason to 

 contend that the federal government should 

 insist upon an adjustment of the matter of 

 terminals all along every such waterway be- 

 fore spending the people's money upon it ; for 

 a waterway with monopolized banks at the 

 ports is a gift to the owners of the water- 

 front. The time to acquire rights for the 

 public is before the highway is completed. 

 To wait is, first to make a road for trade, 

 and then pay for it over again to the owners 

 of abutting land. The right of the railways 

 to handle their terminal business to the de- 

 struction of waterway trade may well be 

 considered; and, in a general way, the effects 

 of terminals on water transportation should 

 be worked out while there is yet time." 



With his fifth chapter on "Rivers and the 

 Conservation Movement," the author begins 

 to link the waterways with the other prob- 

 lems of conservation and especially with for- 

 estry. In this and the following chapters he 

 shows his breadth of view. He does not 

 advocate simply a project or group of proj- 

 ects. The big national self-preservation and 

 development problem is before him. He pre- 

 sents the case for Mr. Leighton's scheme of 

 reservoirs for regulating streamflow, not as 

 a lonesome scheme, but as an ally of moun- 

 tain forests maintained for the same purpose; 

 a part of a big system, as it really must be 

 to be effective. The Southern Appalachian 

 and White Mountain project appeals to Mr. 

 Quick as one of the first needs for the water- 

 ways and the case is argued clearly and 

 forcibly from this point of view. Here, 

 again, is a statement that embodies a good 

 deal of conservation philosophy : "The old 

 scientists divided nature into the four ele- 

 ments of earth, air, fire, and water. We 

 have seen how, in matters of coal consump- 

 tion, forest destruction, power waste, flood 

 damages, soil waste, and the like these four 

 react on each other. We have begun to see 

 that we cannot allow them to ravage the 

 world unchecked. The time must come when 

 he who cuts a tree must ask permission of 

 the rest of the world, and he who burns 

 coal must first prove that there is no way 

 of doing the work by waterpower. A mud- 

 died stream, carrying off the richest of the 

 soil, will be proof of crime in the com- 

 munity whence comes the silt ; and all over 

 the land will be found the reservoirs — small 

 and great — from which in drought will flow 

 the waters to make all our rivers navigable 

 In those days the 'blight of continental dis- 

 tances' will be removed. From Pembina on 

 the north. Great Falls on the northwest, and 

 Sackett's Harb©r on the northeast, down to 

 the Gulf, will run the new seaboard, and 

 the same ships will ply the lakes in summer 

 and carry cargoes to the tropics in winter. 

 In a himdred streams now useless will run 

 the regulated flow that will carry commerce, 

 and, save in exceptional cases, every town 

 in the land will have its waterway to the 

 sea." Whether this dream can be fully real- 



ized in all of its details or not, the principle 

 in the author's mind is sound. 



The closing chapter of the book, on "The 

 Battle of the Engineers," reviews in an im- 

 partial way the discussion that has been in 

 progress for some time, and with which our 

 readers are quite familiar, on the effect of 

 forests on streamflow. After a review of 

 all the testimony, the author finds that per- 

 haps the best summing up is contained in 

 the comment of the Wisconsin lumbermen 

 on Colonel Chittenden's noted paper : "Why, 

 a man doesn't need any learning to know 

 that forests protect the hills from washing 

 and regulate the flow of streams. All he 

 needs is common sense." 



The appendix contains citations of value 

 for reference. Finally, we should say that 

 this is distinctly a popular, book on a great 

 subject, and a book that is worth while for 

 the reader. Indeed, we do not know of any 

 book that will give the non-technical reader 

 so good a general view of the most vital 

 points of conservation of natural resources 

 in the United States, and of the big far- 

 reaching principles underlying them, with, of 

 course, especial emphasis on the waterways. 



«? «r' «? 



The Care of Trees in lawn, street, and park, 

 with a list of trees and shrubs for dec- 

 orative use. By Bernhard E. Fernow, 

 Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, Uni- 

 versity of Toronto. Illustrated, pp. x, 392. 

 New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1910. 



Price, $2.00 



This new book from Doctor Fernow's pen 

 answers the description of a well-worn phrase 

 in that it really fills a long-felt want. It is 

 much of a surprise to see the author's name 

 on a book of this character, but in his pref- 

 ace he shows that he, like others having to 

 do with forestry work, has had to meet in- 

 quiries which showed an urgent demand for a 

 comprehensive book of this kind. Not every 

 one has anything to do directly and personally 

 with forestry, but there are hosts of people 

 concerned with the care of trees, yet with all 

 the agitation concerning trees and all the in- 

 terest in them which has been aroused in 

 recent years, there has been nothing published 

 comprehensive and practical in regard to the 

 care of trees for shade and ornament based 

 on scientific study. The nearest approaches to 

 such a manual were a pamphlet monograph by 

 the late Colonel Fox, superintendent of state 

 forests of New York, and bulletin No. 125 

 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, issued by the station and the 

 Massachusetts Forestry Association in coop- 

 eration about two years ago. The latter was 

 called forth by a pressing local demand and 

 a large edition was very promptly exhausted, 

 but this publication was only a pamphlet and 

 was adapted primarily to Massachusetts con- 

 ditions, especially in its consideration of the 

 shade-tree law. 



