104 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



AUSTRALIAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



The October number, the latest re- 

 ceived, contains as a frontispiece the por- 

 trait of the Hon. Mrs. G. N. Curzon. 

 Under the heading "Sharing the Empire 

 with the States," attention is called to 

 the fact that the vice-empress of India, 

 second in rank in the British empire to 

 Queen Victoria herself, is an American 

 a Chicago girl. That the "American 

 wife" is becoming more and more in evi- 

 dence in England, is showed by the num- 

 ber of prominent Englishmen who married 

 American girls. The journal says, "Mr. 

 Balfour is not married probably because 

 he has never been to America." The 

 Earl of Kilmore, K. P., contributes an 

 article on "The Proposed Harbor and 

 Graving Dock at Large Bay," the pro- 

 posed new port for Australia. 



SCRIBNERS. 



At the advent of each season spring, 

 summer, autumn and winter Scribner 

 appears with an appropriate art cover. 

 The December number has a beautiful 

 cover, with background of silver, suitable 

 to Christmas time. The colored illustra- 

 tions appearing in connection with the 

 poem "The Rape of the Rhine Gold" are 

 an added attraction to the number. A 

 portrait of John Ruskin published for the 

 first time, is given in connection with 

 "John Ruskin as an artist." Richard 

 Harding Davis contributes "In the Rifle 

 Pits," while among the short stories are 

 "Where's Nora?" by Sara Orne Jewett, 

 and "Mrs. H. Harrison Wells's Shoes," by 

 by Jesse Lynch Williams. 



THE FORUM. 



Agriculture and forestry being so close- 

 ly allied with irrigation interests, the 

 article in the December number on "For- 

 est Fires" was the first one to command 

 our attention. "A fire in the forests, 

 especially at night is one of the grandest 

 and most awe-inspiring spectaclgs in nat- 

 ure," says the writer, Henry Gannett, "It 

 is a magnificent spectacle, but one too ex- 

 pensive to be indulged in even by Ameri- 

 cans." This -being true it is well to con- 

 sider every possibly means by which they 

 may be prevented. Some idea of the 

 extent and damage of forest fires is af- 

 forded by the statement that in 1880, 



according to information collected by 

 Prof. C. S. Sargent, in connection with 

 the Tenth Census of the United States, at 

 least ten and a quarter million acres of 

 forest land was destroyed by fire during 

 that year, the value being more than $25,- 

 000,000. The year was not one especially 

 remarkable for fires either. Forest fires 

 during the present year have been more 

 frequent than for some time previous, 

 owing probably to the dryness of the past 

 summer, the western states of Colorado, 

 Wyoming, Montana, Washington, etc., 

 suffering most. Washington and Oregon 

 have always been the scenes of great and 

 destructive fires. Despite the great losses 

 yearly resulting from this cause, it was not 

 until recent years that any concerted at- 

 tempt was made to check them, New York 

 being the first state to take the matter up 

 in earnest. In 1885 her legislature passed 

 a law providing that setting fires, whether 

 accidentally or intentionally, should be 

 punishable by fines or imprisonment and 

 an organization of fire wardens was made. 

 This method proved so efficious that we 

 hear little of fires in that state. The 

 eastern states soon followed her example 

 but the west was slower to accept the les- 

 son. One of the methods suggested by 

 Mr. Gannett for preventing the spread of 

 forest fires is the clearing of broad roads 

 through the dense forests at frequent in- 

 tervals," not only for quick and easy com- 

 munication, but to serve as fire-lanes, up 

 to which fires may spread, but beyond 

 which they may be prevented from 

 passing." 



The California Mirror, a weekly journal 

 published at Los Angeles, Cal., is noted 

 for the caricatures appearing on the front 

 page of each issue. That of Nov. 26 

 shows the "G. O. P." elephant sitting 

 down to his Thanksgiving dinner of "pros- 

 perity pudding," "political pie" and "Vic- 

 tory brand "champaign, while the defeated 

 democratic tiger, with one eye patched up, 

 runs from the missies of "dead issues" 

 that are being thrown. Its agricultural 

 department contains an address on Stor- 

 age Reservoirs, delivered by Geo. . H. 

 Maxwell before the Pomological Society 

 of Southern California at Covina, Nov. 17. 

 , 'Forest Preservation" is also discussed. 



