Current Literature and Reviews. 65 



Maintained in productive condition they will supply indispensa- 

 ble materials, which must fail without them. Their management 

 under practical and conservative forestry will sustain and increase 

 the resources of this region and of the nation at large, will serve 

 as an invaluable object lesson in the advantages and practicability 

 of forest preservation by use, and will soon be self-supporting 

 from the sale of timber. 



"8. The agricultural resources of the Southern Appalachian 

 region must be protected and preserved. To that end the preser- 

 vation of the forests is an indispensable condition, which will 

 lead not to the reduction but to the increase of the yield of agri- 

 cultural products. 



"9. The floods in these mountain-born streams, if this forest 

 destruction continues, will increase in frequency and violence and 

 in the extent of their damages, both within this region and across 

 the bordering states. The extent of these damages, like those 

 from the washing of the mountain fields and roads, can not be 

 estimated with perfect accuracy, but during the present year alone 

 the total has approximated $10,000,000, a sum sufficient to pur- 

 chase the entire area recommended for the proposed reserve. 

 But this loss can not be estimated in money value alone. Its con- 

 tinuance means the early destruction of conditions most valuable 

 to the nation and which neither skill nor wealth can restore. 



"10. The preservation of the forests, of the streams, and of 

 the agricultural interests here described can be successfully ac- 

 complished only by the purchase and creation of a national forest 

 reserve. The States of the Southern Appalachian region own 

 little or no land, and their revenues are inadequate to carry out this 

 plan. Federal action is obviously necessary, is fully justified by 

 reasons of public necessity, and may be expected to have most 

 fortunate results." 



The bill for the founding of the Appalachian Reserve which was 

 so strongly pushed in Washington last year will undoubtedly be 

 passed this winter. The founding of the proposed Reserve will 

 mark a new epoch in the forestry history of this country. 

 Rational forest management inaugurated here will undoubtedly 

 react favorably on the management of the Western Reserves. 



