Some Forest Problems. 263 



lating the moist viro supiily even in regions of ample rainl'all, as in 

 the east and south, is known to lie sufficiently great to demand 

 attention. They hinder the drying up of streams by checking evai)or- 

 ation, and prevent Hoods by retarding the melting of snows, and by 

 storing the rainfall. The grove with its numerous leaves and branches, 

 its floor of litter, and its tangle of underbrush, breaks the force of 

 falling rain, conducts it to the ground gradually, and there it is ])At 

 in storage for future demands instead of causing swollen streams and 

 damaging floods incident to rapid surface drainage. 



If the water conserving influence of forests is of so marked ad- 

 vantage to regions of ample rainfall, how much more importa:u 

 then are forests to localities of sparse rainfall as is the case in so 

 large a part of the country west of the Missouri river. Here the 

 interests of agriculture, grazing, mining and transportation all demand 

 the conservation of the water supply. 



The forest policy is a part of the land policy, and these two q les- 

 tions are inseparably linked with the whole matter of irrigation, 

 which is going to have so vital a bearing on the development of tlie 

 arid lands. It is claimed that by despoiling the watershed of its fore.^t 

 cover, the summer flow available for irrigation in the Rocky Mountain 

 country has been diminished by more than 4 per cent. 



There yet remain in round numbers about six hundred million 

 acres of public domain. According to the best authority that can 

 be brought to bear upon the question there is water enough avail- 

 able to irrigate about one hundred million acres. The most of these 

 lands are very rich. All the plant foods with which nature has endowe I 

 them are yet stored in the soil, and need only the presence of water 

 to unlock them and make them available for plant growth. This- 

 land is practically worthless for agriculture as it is, yet if under 

 irrigation it could be made to support a population of many millions. 

 Private capital has done much for irrigation in the west, and has 

 demonstrated over and over again the feasibility of irrigation. But 

 private capital has gone to its limit, and the national government should 

 now come to its aid, build large reservoirs and flumes, reforest the 

 watersheds and thus store up and conserve the waters which now go 

 to waste. The irrigation law, therefore, enacted in 190 2, is a most 

 opportune measure, and means the gradual reclamation of one-sixth 

 of the public lands, as also the promotion of the canse of foresty. 



Besides being so vitally connected with the question of irrigation 

 forestry will play a large part in settling the problem of grazing 

 on the public lands. Large areas, as in Arizona, for example, formerl/ 

 affording good pasturage, watered by streams rising in the timber- 



