NATURE 



[July 8, 1920 



on scientific principles as much of the primeval 

 woodlands as could be rescued from private owner- 

 ship. Dr. Boerker sketches the history of this 

 great movement. 



The first effective step in conservation was the 

 passing of an Act in 1891, which empowered the 

 President to create forest reserves by proclama- 

 tion. The first to be proclaimed was the Yellow- 

 stor>e Park, and others were added until they 

 amounted to 100,000,000 acres in 1905. In that 

 year the Forest Service was constituted as it now 

 exists, with enlarged powers and increased appro- 

 priations from public funds. In 1907 the "forest 

 reserves" were re-named "national forests," to 

 do away with the impression that the timber was 

 not to be used until some future time. 



Dr. Boerker gives a list of the national forests, 

 arranged by States, and showing the acreage of 

 each and the headquarters of the Forest Super- 

 visor. The national forests are nearly all in the 

 west, comprising the higher parts of the ROcky 

 Mountains, the Cascades, the Pacific Coast ranges, 

 a part of the coast of Alaska, some of the hills in 

 the Dakotas, eastern Montana, Oklahoma and 

 Arkansas, and small areas in Minnesota, Michi- 

 gan, and Florida. In March, 1915, there were 

 162 national forests in all, with a total area of 

 163,000,000 acres. 



Besides the national forests, set aside out of the 

 public lands of the west, there are mountain 

 forests in the east, in the White Mountains and 

 southern Appalachians, which have been gradually 

 acquired by purchase under the Weeks law of 

 191 1. These totalled nearly 2,000,000 acres in 

 1919. Under the same law the Federal Govern- 

 ment co-operates with the States in the protection 

 of forested watersheds, and much has been done 

 to stop the ravages caused by fire. 



In 1910 the Forests Products Laboratory was 

 established at Madison (Wisconsin), and this great 

 research institute has since then made signal 

 advances in almost every phase of wood utilisation, 

 to the great gain of the nation in times of peace 

 and during the war. Researches have been made 

 in wood distillation, the testing and seasoning of 

 timber, the pulp and paper industries, tapping 

 pines for turpentine, using wood waste, the pro- 

 duction of artificial silk from sawdust, etc. In- 

 vestigations in the industrial uses of woods have 

 also been carried out. The attention paid to scien- 

 tific research has been a significant feature of the 

 U.S. Forest Service, as is well shown by the 

 abundant literature on forestry subjects which has 

 been published at Washington during the past ten 

 years. 

 "Dr. Boerker's book is well illustrated, and 

 NO. 2645, VOL. 105] 



contains interesting notes on the field work in the 

 national forests, including harvesting seed, modes 

 of planting, diseases and insect attacks, fire pro- 

 tection, the building of roads, trails, and telephone 

 lines, and the supervision of felling operations and 

 grazing. The richness of details makes the book 

 valuable to foresters as well as to general readers. 

 ' (2) The two small books by Mr. E. P. Stebbing 

 and Mr. A. D. Webster narrate in a popular 

 manner the achievements and hopes of British 

 forestry, and are in strong contrast to the Ameri- 

 can treatise just noticed. Both authors fail 

 notably in their historical chapters. Mr. Stebbing 

 tries to compress into a few pages the history of 

 the woodlands and forest policy of Great Britain 

 from the earliest times until 1885. He bases this 

 abstract on Nisbet's disquisition on the subject in 

 his manual "The Forester." The fact is that 

 the history of forestry in Britain cannot be written 

 until it is taken up seriously, and the public 

 records and other documents are studied and made 

 use of. 



Mr. Stebbing devotes a chapter to the various 

 Committees and Royal Commissions appointed in 

 the period 1885-1914 to inquire into and deal with 

 forestry in this country. His favourable opinion 

 of the activities of the Development Commissioners 

 will meet with some criticism. This body did 

 useful work from 1909 to 1914 in encouraging 

 forestry education, but made no progress in Great 

 Britain in the "purchase and planting of land 

 found after inquiry suitable for afforestation," one 

 of the main objects for which the Commissioners 

 were appointed. The next chapter treats of the 

 diflficulties in timber supplies during the war 

 period. In the remaining chapters Mr. Stebbing 

 is concerned with the future of British forestry, 

 and discusses various matters, such as the require- 

 ments of timber by Britain, what afforestation 

 will do for the people, the connection of forestry 

 and agriculture, the acquisition of land for plant- 

 ing by the State, the protection of afforested areas, 

 etc. He is not content with the recommendations 

 of the Reconstruction Committee for the planting 

 of 1,770,000 acres during the next eighty years. 

 However, we must be satisfied, in the present 

 state of public finance, with the immense progress 

 that has been made in the appointment last year 

 of the Forestry Commission with a definite income 

 and an assured programme for the next ten years. 

 At the end of this period the problem can be 

 reconsidered in the light of the experience gained 

 in the meantime. 



(3) Mr. Webster's small book begins with a 

 short chapter on the history of British woodlands, 

 which contains too little information to be of any 



