MODERN FORESTRY 



desert. "It was," in the words of Ambassador 

 Jusserand of that country, at the meeting at 

 which the President made the remarks quoted 

 above, "hke a death powder covering our 

 land." Trees were set out to check the en- 

 croachment of the sands, and the country was 

 reclaimed. So in Kansas, the plan of tree- 

 planting along the sandy banks of streams that 

 in high water overflow their boundaries is 

 being followed, and the needed information is 

 circulated among the farmers in the flood 

 regions through the bulletins of the state 

 experiment station. The cottonwood tree, a 

 tree of very rapid growth, seems pecuharly 

 suited for flood prevention. A thicket of cot- 

 tonwood trees along the banks of the Kansas 

 River grew so rapidly that, in twenty years, 

 some of the largest measured over one hundred 

 feet in height, two feet in diameter at the 

 ground and a foot and a half in diameter 

 twenty feet above ground. The average trees 

 were seventy -five feet in height. Not only 

 may these trees form a protection against 

 floods, but, when harvested properly, afford a 

 considerable revenue ; for, though soft of tex- 

 ture, such wood is growing steadily in demand 



155 



