240 



THE FORESTER. 



October, 



and that good sense and the right con- 

 science of the people will find a way to 

 put public improvement and individual 

 health before public spoliation and indi- 

 vidual corruption. 



XIII. CLOSING WORD. 



Even the brief glimpse of forest law that 

 has been possible within the limits of this 

 series of papers will probably suffice to 

 make clear to the reader the following 

 points : ( i ) The forest movement has ac- 

 quired an impetus that cannot be checked ; 



(2) That movement has found effective 

 expression in State and Federal laws; 



(3) These laws are laying the foundation 

 for a perfected system of forest manage- 

 ment ; (4) Forest management has already 

 reached practical success. 



It will not do to close without noting 1 the 



O 



important effect of forest law upon the 

 sentiment and practice of the people at large 

 and especially upon private land owners. 

 Where law opens the way the private pos- 

 sessor of forests is now ready to apply the 

 lessons taught by public action to his indi- 

 vidual benefit. 



THE NATURAL SPREADING OF TIMBER AREAS.* 



BY CHARLES E. BESSEY. 

 University of Nebraska. 



SPREADING OF PINE FORESTS. 



Since my last report on the natural 

 spreading of timber areas, made last win- 

 ter, I have had the opportunity of observ- 

 ing personally a number of cases. In a 

 journey through northwestern Nebraska I 

 observed with much interest that in many 

 places the native Pines had spread out 

 from the original timber areas. This was 

 particularly noticeable where the Burling- 

 ton railway had cut off the original sweep 

 of prairie fires, thus permitting the seed- 

 lings to grow unmolested. In many 

 places on Pine Ridge the little trees had 

 pushed out from two to six or eight rods 

 from the original line of the forest area. 

 I am confident that within twenty years, 

 if these spreading areas are protected, the 

 timber line will have advanced from a 

 fourth to half a mile. 



In passing through the Pine region 

 bordering on the Burlington railway west 

 "I the Black Hills in northwestern Wy- 

 oming I observed the same rapid spreading 

 1 the timber areas. Here there were in 

 some cases veritable thickets of young 

 Pine trees which extended the timber area 



* But for slight modifications, the same paper 

 as that read before the Nebraska State Horti- 

 cultural Society in July. 



for many rods beyond its original line. 

 The general northwesterly direction of the 

 railroad cuts at right angles what I take to 

 have been the usual direction of the prairie 

 fires from the southwest, so that it was on 

 the northeasterly side of the railway that 

 these spreading areas of Pines were to be 

 seen. In a small number of cases I noted 

 that the Pines were spreading (but I 

 thought not so rapidly or vigorously) on 

 the southwesterly side of the railway. It 

 is probable that in these cases there were 

 local conditions which prevented the 

 prairie fires from sweeping over the areas 

 as formerly. 



SPREADING OF DECIDUOUS TREES. 



In a paper prepared for the United 

 States Division of Forestry, last winter, 

 I spoke as follows of the spread of the 

 eastern forests : 



"The deciduous forests of the eastern 

 portions of the State are now enlarging 

 their areas wherever man is not actively 

 engaged in destroying them. Left to 

 themselves the forest areas of Elm, Ash, 

 Oak, Hickory, Walnut, etc., are spreading 

 at a rate so rapid that it has attracted the 

 attention of many observers." 



I may add to this statement that wher- 



