Current Literature. 69 



most other yellow pines in self-pruning ability. Improvement 

 thinnings are advisable where they can be made to pay for them- 

 selves. 



S. J. R. 



Grazing and Floods: A Study of Conditions in the Manti 

 National Forest, Utah. By Robert V. R. Reynolds. Bulletin 91, 

 U. S. Forest Service. Washington, D. C. 191 1. Pp. 16. 



This bulletin is the result of a careful survey of the conditions 

 on the Manti National Forest in central Utah and deals primarily 

 with the effect of forest grazing on the frequency and severity of 

 floods. This history of the settlement of the region, of grazing 

 and of floods is described in sufficient detail to throw light on the 

 relation of excessive and injudicious grazing to the destructiveness 

 and increasing frequency of the more recent floods. 



Perhaps nowhere in the inter-mountain region of the west are 

 conditions so clearly illustrated as in the portion of the Wasatch 

 Mountain region embraced by the present ]\Ianti Forest. Grazing 

 is at the maximum and the usual range war between cattle and 

 sheep interest was fought to a finish on this narrow plateau which 

 is the chief field of interest in the bulletin. The demand for 

 water and consequently watershed protection is equally keen but 

 only recently realized. The populous San Pete Valley at the 

 western foot of the range is but one-third utilized, directly as the 

 result of an insufficient and unregulated water supply. The 

 Forest is not a timber forest, its chief value lying in the grazing 

 and watershed protection which the forest vegetation affords. 

 The need of water from the surface streams is still further in- 

 creased by the fact that on the east side the formation is of such 

 a character that neither wells nor cisterns can be constructed. 



It is stated that this region was first settled in 1850 and that 

 cattle grazing reached its climax in 1880 when sheep grazing 

 began. From 1888 to 1905 occurred the most severe sheep graz- 

 ing, since the war between this industry and the cattle was then at 

 its height. The usual tactics in such range wars were employed, 

 such as rapid travelling, close herding and bedding long in one 

 place, with numerous fires set each year to improve the range and 

 remove brush areas to facilitate the handling of sheep. 



