THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



by it in the reforestation of the Rocky mountains, and 

 how the forests were to be so taken care of that succes- 

 sive timber crops were to be harvested. Ill the Red 

 Book entitled "Use of the National Forests," is the 

 following : 



"Agricultural lands are managed so as to produce 

 the most valuable crops, year after year, without a break. 

 Forest lands also should be managed so as to produce 

 the most valuable crops of timber and wood year after 

 year, without interruption." 



This feat is to be performed, so far as the public 

 has been advised, by preparing nurseries which are to be 

 seeded, and when the trees are of sufficient size they are 

 to be transplanted to the forests. 



The following is a quotation from a forest super- 

 visor's report for 1907,- a copy of which I obtained from 

 the Forest Bureau at Washington. Out of sympathy 

 for the subordinates concerned, I omit the name of the 

 station and the forest, as they no doubt realize how use- 

 less it is to attempt reforestation by such means. 



"Nursery and Ditch. 



A nursery was plowed and fenced at 



ranger station jn May of this year. This nursery is 135 

 feet long by 45 feet wide, and is fenced with four barbed 

 wires strung on posts 16 feet apart. Six seed beds were 

 prepared and planted this spring, each of them being 

 covered with a shade frame made of lath nailed on 2 by 

 4 pieces 12 feet long and placed on stakes about 18 

 inches high." 



When the Rocky mountains are reforested by means 

 of nurseries the size of a town lot, the miracles of the 

 Bible may well be forgotten, and we may console our- 

 selves that the food famine is indefinitely postponed so 

 long as the Forest Service can annually procure five 

 loaves and two fishes on which to feed the nation. 



In theory, timber cutting under Forest Service 

 supervision is confined to mature, diseased and dying 

 trees. If Mr. Pinchot would visit these regions on 

 horseback, instead of in a Pullman car, he would learn 

 more about our forests in a week than he ever knew 

 before. He would learn that there are no "mature" 

 pine or spruce trees in our mountains, nor will there 

 be for no one knows how many hundred years; that a 

 majority of them are less than 1,000 years old, but there 

 are some that are 1,500 years old and growing as thrifty 

 as ever. 



There are in many places dead and dying trees, not 

 from age, but from injury and disease. 



In our forests which are at an average altitude of 

 9,000 feet, there are but about three months in the 

 year, and but about six hours in each day of these 

 months, when the trees will grow; the soil is generally 

 rocky and thin, furnishing but slight nourishment, and 

 the average of tree growth under such conditions for 

 each twelve inches in diameter is for red spruce 200 

 years, white spruce 400 years, yellow pine 200 years, and 

 lodge pole pine 300 years; therefore the second natural 

 crop of saw timber which the Forest Service is promis- 

 ing us, as a great feature of scientific forestry, will not 

 be crowding us and our posterity during the next 500 

 years. 



In low altitudes where the trees grow the year round 

 in rich soil and under equable climatic conditions, pines 

 will grow to twelve inches diameter in twenty years, but 



this is in nowise a standard from which to judge growth 

 in the Rocky mountains. 



But the Forest Service is proposing to outdo nature, 

 if we are to take its promise for performance. 



Quite recently the following prophecy was put 

 forth : 



"Following out the plan to preserve and replenish 

 the forest reserves of the country, the members jf the 

 Forestry Bureau will, within the next few days, begin 

 the planting of 100,000 trees in the neighborhood of the 

 Cheeseman dam and in the Tarryall mountains, along 

 the South Platte river. This is only the beginning of a 

 gigantic scheme to plant 20,000,000 trees in a tract of 

 100,000 acres in the Pikes Peak forest reservation. 



"This new forest will result in millions of gallons 

 of water being saved to the city of Denver and to the 

 State by the checking of the heavy volume of water that 

 now goes to waste in flood periods. 



"Julius F. Kuemmel, who has charge of the plant- 

 ing, says that benefit will begin to be derived from the 

 new forests in about ten years." 



Let us see when this second flood of water will come. 

 After these trees have spent five or ten years in a nursery, 

 they will be ready for transplanting to the forests. It 

 is safe to say that the operation of taking up, trans- 

 portation to the forest and replanting will average one 

 hour to the tree ; this will require 2,500,000 days of eight 

 hours each, and allowing 300 working days in each year, 

 it will take 100 men eighty-three years to do the job ! 

 It will take about forty years after planting for the 

 trees to attain a foliage spread sufficient to conserve 

 snow and increase the water supply. 



According to Mr. Pinchot's forecast on our re- 

 sources, our coal, iron ore, etc., will all be gone in less 

 than 100 years. What, then, will we do with all this 

 water ? Of course, as a hope that our posterity may not 

 have to build a second ark, we may rely somewhat on 

 the statement of equally eminent scientists that these 

 young trees, in order to grow, will each require a natural 

 or artificial supply of water of- about one gallon, or a 

 total of 20,000,000 gallons per day from the time of 

 transplanting. Just how this will help the water supply 

 of Denver in the first instance we have not been advised. 



When in Colorado last month, Secretary Wilson 

 used his eyes and ears, and acquired considerable infor- 

 mation as to conditions and among other criticisms of 

 the forest administration, is reported to have declared 

 the scheme of reforestation by hand to be absurd. 



If Mr. Pinchot had more mountain experience, he 

 would see that natural reforestation is going on as 

 . rapidly as can be wherever moisture and soil conditions 

 permit, and that unless these conditions are favorable, 

 reforestation is not possible, either naturally or arti- 

 ficially, the fact being that all over the mountains where 

 the timber was destroyed, either by the axe or fire twenty 

 to fifty years ago, natural reforestation is going on, and 

 these areas are now thickly set with new growth from 

 3 to 20 feet high, and nature is accomplishing more 

 every year than the Forest Service will accomplish in 

 the next thousand years, and the idea of reforestation 

 in the Rocky mountains, by human hands, is a dream 

 that will never materialize. 



In this respect, as well as to our resources, Provi- 

 dence has up to date taken fairly good care of us, and 

 as between the two P's Providence and Pinchot a 

 majority of the people will still tie up to Providence. 



