1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



-97 



The Forester, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



The American Forestry Association, 



AND 



Devoted to Arboriculture and Forestry, the 



Care and Use of Forests and Forest 



Trees, and Related Subjects. 



All members of the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion receive the FORESTER free of charge. 



To non-members the yearly subscription rate is 

 one dollar. Single copies of the current issue and 

 of most back numbers can be had for ten cents 

 apiece. 



The FORESTER assumes no responsibility for 

 opinions expressed in signed articles. 



All contributions and communications should be 

 addressed to the EDITOR, 



202 14th Street, S. W., Washington, D.C. 



Vol. VI. 



DECEMBER, igoo. 



No. 12. 



We have been surprised 

 Forestry in to find the following in 



America. , . .. *? , 



a brief paragraph entitled 



"American Forestry" in the November 

 issue of Meehan's Monthly. "Ameri- 

 can forestry has not yet gone beyond the 

 preservation of our own forests, for gen- 

 eral reasons. Tree culture for profit, 

 which forestry signifies in the ' old world,' 

 is here not thought of." These remarks 

 though dropped in a casual way as unde- 

 niable truths, no longer require express 

 correction here. But unfortunately there 

 are still many people who, having made 

 the discovery that European forest meth- 

 ods cannot be imported bodily into this 

 country, and having got no further, would 

 be satisfied to believe such utterances. To 

 these it is instructive to put the two fol- 

 lowing questions: If you were charged 

 with the management of a tract of land 

 bearing only trees even in America is 

 it not probable that you could find use for 

 a forester's knowledge and experience? 

 What would the application of this knowl- 

 edge and experience to your difficulties be? 

 These queries usually suffice to make it 

 clear that the growing of timber from the 

 seed, as in Germany, is no more the be-all 

 and the end-all of forestry than the con- 

 struction of Cunard liners is the whole of 

 the business of a naval architect. The 



conditions may not be as favorable to tree 

 culture for profit in thiscountrv as abroad ; 

 but the forester can easily justify his pres- 

 ence, and is daily finding opportunities for 

 work of the most practical kind. 



The Ninth Session Tne ninth annual session 

 of the Irrigation of the National Irrigation 

 Congress. Congress, held last month 



in Chicago, was not only pleasant and 

 profitable to the large number of members 

 and delegates who attended it, but a cause 

 of congratulation also among all who are in- 

 terested in irrigation and forestry. " Save 

 the forests and store the floods " was the 

 motto stretched across the platform in the 

 Central Music Hall, and the moral, more 

 than all others, which could be drawn 

 from every paper and address was that the 

 program of the National Irrigation As- 

 sociation is not a Utopian scheme backed 

 by people of more enthusiasm than com- 

 mon sense, but a very practical one which 

 appeals to, and deserves the support of, 

 business men in the East as well as of 

 farmers in the West. It is true that at the 

 last minute three of the sincere and influ- 

 ential friends of irrigation and forestry- 

 Governor Roosevelt, now Vice-president- 

 elect, General Miles, and Secretary \YiUon 

 were prevented from being present, but 

 their absence though regretted was partly 

 atoned for by the letters which the\ sent, 

 and the meeting as a whole went oil most 

 successfully. 



Outsiders who were present during part 

 of all the four days through which tin- 

 session lasted must have been convinced 

 that the obstacles which delay the an- 

 nexation of arid America," and the estab- 

 lishment of proper irrigating works in (In- 

 states not spoken <>f as arid, are in no wa\ 

 insurmountable. Consisting chiefly oi l>a.l 

 laws, a great kick of reservoirs, of surveys 

 indispensable to their establishment, of 

 estimates of tin- llow of \\.iter in dillerent 

 streams, etc., they can, and would doubt- 

 less ultimately be overcome in am C.IM-. 

 Hut the- Ini-ation CongTCSS sees u<> -ooj 

 reason for waiting for blessing which c.m 

 be obtained more cheaply and better now 

 than lit'ty \cars hence, and for this reason 



