546 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A Bluff Called by the rectification of boundaries, which 



is going on rapidly as a result of care- 



ON ANOTHER page is printed an ful surveys, a work of which the readers 

 address t elivered by the Forester of this magazine are kept informed 

 of the United States before the Den- from month to month. Ample provision 

 ver Real Estate Exchange on the 3d ^nust be made for administrative pur- 

 of August. Frequent attacks have been poses, as Mr. Graves points out, be- 

 made upon the Forest Service for its cause a force of rangers and other em- 

 alleged policy of shutting homesteaders pioyees must be maintained for the good 

 out of the public lands, thwarting the of the forest, and it may be added that 

 ambition of the pioneer, and checking ^^e welfare and proper maintenance of 

 the development of the country. This these men are just as important as those 

 agitation has been especially active in of any other settlers. 

 Colorado, where the high altitude some- !„ yigw of these facts, and knowing 

 times engenders marked extravagance ^-^^ honest purpose of the Service and 

 of language. It is characteristic of. the ^he character of the man at the head 

 direct, incisive methods of the Forester of it, it may safely be predicted that he 

 that he went straight to the storm center ^m ^g equally successful in other cases, 

 and examined the situation on the or that any real wrongs that exist will 

 ground in company with some of the be righted as far as the laws permit, 

 severest critics of the Service. To those 



who have had knowledge of the real sit- Jg J^ 5^ 



nation it has been known all along that 



the harsh criticisms that have been made Terrific Fire Losses 



have been due in part to exceptional _ ^^ _^-, , 



cases of over-zealous administration, but I jNLESS the general reports of for- 



chiefly to persistent misrepresentations, ^ est fires are more than usually un- 



combined with a certain amount of mis- reliable, the summer of 1910 will leave 



understanding of the laws, the condi- a conspicuously evil record of irrep- 



tions, and the real purpose of the ad- arable damage done. The known losses 



ministrators. The latest advices indi- are appalling. 



cate that Mr. Graves has been able to Early in the season great dryness 

 go upon the ground and disprove, even started the mischief ahead of time, and 

 to the critics of the Forest Service, so throughout some of the choicest timber 

 far as the Colorado forests are con- regions of the northwest the flames have 

 cerned, the charges that have been so been raging almost continuously ever 

 vociferously made. Admitting that the since. From Wisconsm and Michigan 

 land pointed out to him is agricultural, it was recently reported on trustworthy 

 he has shown that, instead of amounting authority that, even if every fire in the 

 to "millions of acres withheld from set- country were then extinguished, and no 

 tlement," it amounts to some patches of i^^ore should start during the rest of the 

 a few thousand acres, isolated and in season, the summer would go down in 

 high altitudes, the applications for which history as the costliest that lumbermen 

 have been few, while some of the claims have ever known The Portland Ore- 

 taken up have been abandoned by the Soman, toward the end of Ju y, esti- 

 settlers. These facts make the sound- "^ated that the total loss in timber and 

 ing charges that have been made look property up to that tnne in British Co- 

 11 • J J TT J ^1. T^ i. Tu lumbia, Idaho, Washington, and north- 

 small indeed. Under the Forest Home- r- i-r • ^ «> j ui 



,T . /- 1 , J. 1 1 r t ern Cahiornia at Sioo,ooo,ooo, or double 



stead Law of 1906, land suitable for cul- ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^j ^^^ ^^jl . ^^^^ ^^^^^_ 



tivation IS made available for settlers ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ enormous losses are being 



as far as applications are made for it, suffered as this magazine goes to press, 



and agricultural lands on the outskirts was not included. 



of the forests are being eliminated from August 2, in accordance with tele- 



the forests and thrown open to settlement graphed requests from the Western Pine 



