VARIOUS NATIONAL SOCIETIES. 151 



IMPORTANT TO COLORADO. 



What would Colorado do under her wise forestry laws with au appropriation 

 of a half million toward the preservation of h^r valuable forests ? I commend 

 this subject to your continual attention and effort. 



It is evident that the education of our American youth should be directed 

 with a view to their future sovereign citizenship, and instruction in those de- 

 partments of American economics that most nearly touch the productive ener- 

 gies of the masses should by n» means be omitted in the public school curricu- 

 lum. The science of forestry, like that of agriculture, is as yet largely experi- 

 mental. It is the result of one of our modern necessities. Some of the more 

 important conclusions regarding the influence of forests are based upon his- 

 toric evidence, scientific investigations and careful observation, and may be 

 briefly summed up as follows: 



1. The forests exercise an influence upon the climate of the country ; they 

 modify the extremes of temperature. 



2. They have a decided influence upon the water supply of a country. Clear 

 the forests from the valleys and headwaters of streams and rivers, and these 

 water-courses, perennial before, become dry in summer and raging torrents in 

 spring time. 



3. Forests exert a beneficial influence upon agriculture by forming a wall of 

 protection to the growing crops when most needed. 



4. Growing forests on mountain sides and steep declivities hold the loose soil 

 and accumulating humus in place. 



5. Forests in adecpaate areas tend to preserve the healthfulness of a country 

 or district by their influence on the surrounding atmosphere. 



6. Forest products afford the most indispensable and necessary economic ele- 

 ment in the industries and prosperity of a nation. The total value of the for- 

 est products of the United States for 1880 exceeded $700,000,000. 



A GREAT QUESTION. 



The time has come for the people of America to consider most seriously this 

 great forestry interest. And how can this best be done ? What surer avenues 

 are open for this instruction than the public school ? 



When I consider the progress that has been made in America in the past 

 few years toward the establishment of some forest policy, I feel that the con- 

 summation of our fondest hopes as to the result of our labors will yet be re- 

 alized. 



I cannot close without further congratulating yon and the country on hav- 

 ing at the head of the Forestry Bureau at Washington our Secretary, the Hon. 

 B. E. Fernon, a gentleman of eminent scientific and literary ability, a trained 

 forester thoroughly prepared for the position which he fills. 



DESTRUCTIVE FOREST FIRES. 



Mr. Cornforth then called upon President Parsons, who said : It seems 

 fitting to make a few remarks on the importance of this subject to this State. 

 We see in the mountains destructive forest fires. Those Eastern slopes were 

 once entirely clothed with trees, and with the loss of the trees we have lost the 

 natural reservoirs so necessary for the growing of crops. It was for the preser- 

 vation of the Colorado forests that in 1884 the State Society was formed. A 

 State Commissioner was appointed by act of Legislature. By the preservation 



