76 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



before it is too late will lead to a conservation of groves 

 and forests still in existence. The destrnction from fires 

 has already attracted much attention, and rigid laws to 

 prvent them have been enacted in every state. 



Groves and small wood-lots upon each farm will in 

 some measure repair the loss of the more extensive 

 woods, but there must be considerable area of country in 

 which the forest must take control if we would preserve 

 the climate, the springs, the streams, the soil, the birds, 

 and the fishes. Even now the business of sinking wells 

 for farm use to a depth of several hundred feet is being 

 actively carried on in the West. The surface water is 

 disappearing. 



Private owners cannot perform the duty of forestry 

 in America. We have no rich old families who from 

 generation to generation have been able to set apart large 

 tracts of land for the growth of trees. We have none of 

 the beautiful old ruins that grace so many parts of the 

 forest-planting kingdoms of the Old World. We have no 

 ruins more picturesque than a defunct bank, a bankrupt 

 insurance company, or a railway in the hands of a re- 

 ceiver. No baronial game preserves are set apart in 

 America. Only the government lives long enough to 

 plant trees extensively. The private individual is too 

 constantly reminded of the fleeting character of life to 

 lay out a forest for succeeding generations. The gov- 

 ernment alone can hold tracts either long enough or large 

 enough to effect the great climatic purpose involved in 

 the preservation of our forests. A great step in this di- 

 rection was taken in the laws providing for timber res- 

 ervations. These reservations should be kept for use 

 and growth. A thorough system of cutting off this tim- 

 ber ought to be provided for at some time in the future 

 when the wants of the people require that the ripened or 



