Report of the Committee on Forestry. 97 



put of crops, even though the cultivated area be increased, and consequently di- 

 minishes the capacity of the land to support population ; and 



Whereas, Excessive tree destruction without regard to the maintenance of 

 the reproductive power of the forest causes irregularity and uncertainty in the 

 rain-fall, diminished wood and timber supply for the future, diminished humidity 

 in the air, diminished health of the people, especially through the production of 

 malarial diseases, diminished spring and summer flow of streams used for naviga- 

 tion and irrigation, increased extremes of heat and cold, of drought and flood, 

 and in mountainous countries like CMlifornia causes the production of torrents 

 that carry debris from the denuded water sheds to cover and destroy fertile valley 

 lands below ; and 



Whereas, The present government land laws furnish neither an adequate 

 means of carrying on the timber industry nor any means for protecting the water- 

 sheds, and consequently the irrigation and inland navigation, nor the climate and 

 crops of the country ; and 



Whereas, Timber lands are being rapidly taken up by questionable means, 

 frequently in the interest of foreign capital ; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the American Horticultural Society, in convention assembled, 

 calls the attention of congress to this subject of vital importance to the country, 

 and requests that all government timber lands be at once withdrawn from sale or 

 entry, and that the mining act granting timber to locaters be repealed, until a 

 definite survey shall have ascertained what portions of the public forests should 

 be permanently reserved for the best interests of the nation ; and that when such 

 forest areas shall be definitely ascertained they shall be set apart and managed in 

 accordance with such regulations as have been suggested and verified by the expe- 

 rience of other nations. The questionable means necessary to obtain large bodies 

 of timber land now so energetically practiced, together with the waste and destruc- 

 tion and fires, make this or a similar measure one of urgency. 



Resolved, That congress is further requested to create a special forest reserve 

 in the far-famed redwood districts of California. Abbott Kinney, 



T. S. Hubbard, 

 J. M. Smith, 



T. V. MUNSON, 



J. Clark Kidpath. 

 Resolved, That the preamble and resolutions herewith presented be printed 

 ail 1 handed as soon as possible to the members present and sent to those absent, 

 with the request that the resolutions be forwarded to the members of congress 

 whom they know, or who represent their district, urging action ; also, that copies 

 be forwarded directly to the chairmen of the Committees on Public Lands in the 

 senate and house of representatives, and the Secretary of the Interior, the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture and chief of the bureau of forestry. 



DISCUSSION ON THE FORESTRY RESOLUTIONS. 



Mr. Van Deman, U. S. Poraologist, Washington, D. C. — I 

 heartily indorse the report. Congress should perpetually preserve 

 the big trees of California. 



