628 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



argued that the importance of preserving the forests is admitted by forest experts 

 and rinds expression in public opinion throughout the country. This, however, is 

 not sufficient to protect the forests in an effective manner. In order to secure this 

 protection, it is necessary that the great business and forest interests of tin- nation 

 join forces. The movement for the protection of forests should not, in the Presi- 

 dent's opinion, come from the Government, nor from newspapers, nor from public sen- 

 timent alone, "but from the active, intelligent, and effective interest of the men to 

 whom the forest is important from a business point of view." 



Throughout the sessions of the congress, papers were presented which showed 

 clearly a change of attitude on the part of all persons concerned toward the use and 

 preservation of the forests. Lumbermen, railroad men, and miners, all recognize 

 more clearly than ever before the necessity of preserving such forests as already 

 exist and of making forest plantations wherever favorable conditions prevail. Such 

 work has already been undertaken on an extensive scale by certain railroads, and 

 other railroads have installed large plants for the preservation of ties and other 

 timbers so as to increase their durability. In former years these industries were 

 prone to look upon any restriction upon their use of forest lands as an unjust dis- 

 crimination. They now recognize the necessity of an intelligent control of all forest 

 pr< iducts for present or future use. A similar change of attitude has occurred among 

 stock raisers who wish and claim the right to use the grazing lands in the forest 

 reserves, so far as this may be done without injury to standing timber and without 

 preventing the reproduction of the forests. Likewise on the part of forest experts, 

 the desire was expressed for a cordial cooperation with all business interests con- 

 cerned in forest production, to the end that the forests may be preserved from unnec- 

 essary waste and that the supply of timber for the future may be assured. 



The intimate relationship between the forests and. general agricultural operations 

 was also clearly recognized by various speakers. Without reaching definite con- 

 clusions regarding the question whether forests influence the actual amount of rain- 

 fall or not, it was generally recognized that the forests everywhere exert a decidedly 

 favorable influence upon the regulation of the water supply, especially during the 

 time of the minimum discharge. This influence is of great importance not only for 

 the irrigation farmer but also for the mining and milling industries which may 

 depend upon water for power. All the speakers strongly recommended that in order 

 to secure the best results from forest reserves and other public timber lands, these 

 lands should be placed under the management of the Bureau of Forestry. 



Miscellaneous. — A note in Science states that Luther Burbank, of California, has 

 been appointed a special lecturer at Stanford University. 



William H. Krug, for many years an assistant in the Bureau of Chemistry of this 

 Department, and latterly connected with a business firm in New York, died in that 

 city from pneumonia on January 27, after only a few days' illness. His remains 

 were brought to Washington for interment. 



C. P. Lonnsbury, government entomologist of Cape of Good Hope, and Claude 

 Fuller, the Natal government entomologist, have been commissioned by their 

 respective governments to visit Brazil to investigate and, if possible, obtain the 

 parasitic and predaceous enemies of the fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), which Com- 

 pere reports in that country. 



It is learned that Prof. F. Tangl, of Budapest, did not accept the call to the chair 

 of physiology at Innsbruch, announced in a recent issue (p. 420). 



o 



