164 AMKKICAX FORKSTltY 



The Arrowrock clam in Idaho, upon which construction has beii:un, stands 

 in a class by itself anionj;^ the engineering works of the world. Tn its greatest 

 hciglil, :]')! feet, it ranks all others. Its cubical contents will be 5()(),00() cubic 

 yards. 



Appreciating the ditliculties which all settlers encounter during the lirst 

 few years on the desert land, and the outlay of money required to establish 

 a home and prepare the land for crops, the Secretary of the Interior in sev- 

 eral instances has formulated a plan for graduating the payments, making 

 the early payments small until the crop returns suflSce to meet the cliarges 

 for building and operation. 



There is little or no disposition on the part of the farmers to break faith 

 with the Government. The delinquents are remarkabh' few and our eastern 

 brothers have no reason to fear that the West will not meet its full obligation 

 in returning the loan which the Federal Government is making. The percent- 

 age of actual failures is surprisingly small and the causes therefor are inher- 

 ent in the individual rather than in any fault in the works or in the countiy. 

 Given a little capital and an abundance of grit and industry, and there is 

 little cause for failure on the part of any individual. 



In the great construction w'ork in which the Reclamation Bureau has 

 been engaged, it has had its troubles and has made its mistakes. It entered 

 njion a field new and untried, and covering a vast area. A fair judgment 

 upon the work as a whole I believe will be favorable, and will furnish argii- 

 ments for its continuance. 



*From address before the National Irrigation Congress. 



During January 214,749 acres of laud in ihe ^tate of Idaho believed io 

 he underlain hij phosphate rock tvere withdraivn on recommendation of the 

 United States Geological Survey. This makes a total outstanding with- 

 drawal in Idaho of 1,167,137 acres of phosphate land. In Wyoming 1,266,688 

 acres are note withdrawn as phosphate land, in Utah 107,745 acres, in Mon- 

 tana 33,950 acres, and in Florida 35,640 acres, a total of 2,611,140 acres. 



The American Historic and Scenic Preservation Society is preparing In 

 carry out the icishes of the late W. P. Letchworth by turning the tneadoirs 

 and agricultural lands of Letchworth Park, af Portage, into forests for tht 

 purpose of demonstrating just how timber can be produced and the deplelrd 

 wood lands restored. 



Prussia has a forest of 7,000,000 acres. H is very .similar to u-hat our 

 Appalachian region would be if we added to it some of the pine lands farther 

 south. In 1865 these forests yielded a net profit of 72 cents an acre. In 19(i() 

 the profit was ^1.58. In 1904 it teas f!2.50, a7id this year it is expected to be 

 around $5. 



There is a prevailing tendency among orcharditats to underestimate the 

 danger from hold-over blight in the pear and apple, and with this mistaken 

 idea has rrcpt in n certain amount of carelessness in the attention which i-s 

 given to disca^rd trees. 



