4 



THE FORESTER. 



February, 



The Second Report of the American Park 

 anil ( Outdoor Association. This is an account 

 of the meeting of the Association at Minne- 

 apolis, Minn., June 22, 23 and 24, 1898. ' To 

 promote the conservation of natural scenery, 

 the acquirement and improvement of land for 

 public parks and reservations, and the ad- 

 vancement of all outdoor art having to do with 

 the designing and fitting of public grounds for 

 public and private use," are the purposes for 

 which it exists. A number of interesting 

 papers deal with various aspects of the work, 

 which has already been so successful. 



The president of the Association is Mr. 

 Charles M. Loring, of Minneapolis; the secre- 

 tary is Mr. Warren H. Manning, whose address 

 is 1 146 Tremont Building, Boston, Mass. 



The Wyoming State University has issued 

 an instructive bulletin on the subject of "Cul- 

 tivated Shade and Forest Trees of Wyoming," 

 by Prof. B. C. Buffum. 



In a recent contribution to the Atlan- 

 tic Monthly, President Charles W. Elliott, 

 of Harvard University, who is noted as 

 an observing traveler, says : 



Any one who has traveled through the 

 comparatively treeless countries around the 

 Mediterranean, such as Spain, Sicily, Greece, 

 Northern Africa and large portions of Italy, 

 must fervently pray that our own country may 

 be preserved from so dismal a fate. It is not 

 the loss of the forests only that is to be dreaded, 

 but the loss of agricultural regions now fertile 

 and populous, which may be desolated by the 

 floods that rush down from bare hills and 

 mountains, bringing with them vast quantities 

 of sand and gravel to be spread over the low- 

 lands. Traveling a few years ago through 

 Tunisie, I came suddenly upon a fine Roman 

 bridge of stone over a wide, bare, dry river 

 bed. It stood some 30 feet above the bed of 

 the river, and had once served the needs of a 



It is estimated, the bulletin recites, that 

 approximately one-sixth of the area of the 

 State, or about ten million acres of land within 

 its borders, is covered with timber. All of this 

 is in the mountain regions. The bulletin gives 

 in detail the results of experiments at the 

 various stations in Wyoming in raising forest 

 and shade trees. A summary of these results 

 shows that the best trees for wind breaks, 

 shelter belts and street planting in Wyoming 

 are the Cottonwoods and Willows. The most 

 rapid Cottonwood is the smooth-bark, or Ryd- 

 burgh's. The next in value are the Broad Leaf, 

 Black or Narrow Leaf Cottonwood and the Balm 

 of Gilead. In the order of their hardness the 

 following trees have been tried at the State 

 experiment stations: Cottonwood, Willow, Silver 

 Spruce, Douglas Spruce, Hardy Apples, Silver 

 Maple, Cedar, White Ash, Locust, Elm, Moun- 

 tain Ash, Black Walnut and Catalpa. 



prosperous population. Marveling at the 

 height of the bridge above the ground, I asked 

 the French station master if the river ever rose 

 to the arches which carried the roadway of the 

 bridge. His answer testified to the flooding 

 capacity of the river and the strength of the 

 bridge. He said, "I have been here four 

 years, and three times I have seen the river 

 running over the parapets of that bridge." 

 That country was once one of the richest 

 granaries of the Roman Empire. It now 

 yields a scanty support for a sparse and semi- 

 barbarous population The whole region round 

 about is treeless. The care of the National 

 forests is a provision for future generations, 

 for the permanence over vast areas of our 

 country of the great industries of agriculture 

 and mining upon which the prosperity of the 

 country ultimately depends. A good forest 

 administration would soon support itself ; but 

 it should be organized in the interests of the 

 whole country, no matter what it cost. 



