10 



THE FORESTER. 



January, 



away the necessity for the first irrigation 

 usually required in that month, and for 

 the irrigation of the vast potato fields in 

 August, water was used which had been 

 stored in reservoirs during former years. 

 The irrigating farmer thus lives from 

 hand to mouth, trusting in providential 

 measures, which he has no right to ex- 

 pect, while the lumberman, with axe and 

 fire, destroys the source of his supply. 



And the Colorado farmer is not the 

 only sufferer. There are in Nebraska 

 some three millions of acres fit for irri- 

 gation ; all of them dependent for their 

 water supply upon the river Platte. 

 This river would carry a steady volume 

 of water all the year round, were its 

 sources permitted to pour out their 

 liquid streams as nature ordained they 

 should. As it is, Nebraska will have to 

 build reservoirs to store flood water for 

 the use of her farmers during the sum- 

 mer season. 



There is but one way out of the diffi- 

 culty. The governments, both Federal 

 and State, must apply the remedy before 

 it shall be too late. What is required is 

 a reasonable forest service by men trained 

 for the work. We do not advocate a 

 cessation of the lumber business at all. 

 That lumber should be cut is quite essen- 

 tial to the well being of the forest itself, 

 but it should be cut in a sensible and 

 scientific manner. 



Where fires are kept out of the forests 

 and sheep are not permitted to destroy 

 the young trees, nature is apt to repair 

 damages by spontaneous growth. Even 



where fires have destroyed the woods, a 

 second growth springs up, if the erosion 

 of the soil has not been too severe to 

 permit this. What is desired is to save 

 whatever timber may be still standing. 



The Danish Government, since 1865, 

 has been engaged in planting trees on 

 the peninsula of Jutland. A sandy 

 stretch of some 200 miles in length has 

 been made use of and a forest of some 

 forty miles in breadth planted thereon. 

 The influence of this 30-year-old Pine 

 forest on climate and health has been 

 marvelous, and the timber has paid 

 for its own planting during the last ten 

 years. 



When such results can be achieved by 

 a country of small resources and an in- 

 hospitable climate, on land so light that 

 it was necessary to plant firs and juni- 

 pers mixed, the latter being designed to 

 protect the roots of the former from be- 

 ing laid bare, what may we not do in a 

 country such as this where conditions are 

 so much more favorable? 



The United States has reason to look 

 after the preservation of its forests. 

 There is hardly a season that we do not 

 hear of reduction of most promising crops 

 by drouth and hot winds, and in many 

 prairie States the yield per acre has be- 

 come less than it ought to be. 



We, of the West, should teach the 

 irrigationist farmer unceasingly thus : 



"If you wish for an abundance of 

 water, see to the preservation of the 

 woods at the sources of the rivers." 



Report of Wisconsin Commission. 



The State Forestry Commission which 

 was appointed under an act of the Leg- 

 islature of 1897 for the purpose of in- 

 quiring into the matter of better forestry 

 legislation, has completed its report and 

 delivered it to the printer. The com- 

 mission consists of George B. Burrows, 

 of Madison ; H. C. Putnam, of Eau 

 Claire, and Ernest Bruncken, of Mil- 

 waukee. 



The report calls attention to the mis- 

 apprehension which still widely prevails 

 as to the meaning of the word ' 'forestry. " 

 That art or profession is not synony- 

 mous with arboriculture, which is merely 

 a branch of the subject. Neither has it 

 anything to do with the growing of orna- 

 mental trees in parks. It is simply the 

 business of utilizing forest lands for 

 profit. The improvement of prevailing 



