901. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



25 



I a felt of hyphae or threads of a mould 

 r fungus, and that some of the cells of the 

 Dot are penetrated by them. Great num- 

 ers of the threads run outward from this 

 sit and ramify through the soil thickly in 



II directions. The decay products of the 

 ead leaves are conducted through them 

 ito the felt and into the root where they 

 re at the service of the tree, and are next 

 ed upward through its body, serving to 

 uild up its new tissues. This service 

 f the fungus is repaid by the tree afford- 

 :ig it a place to live, and also by giving 

 ack to it some of the products derived 



from the soil which have been worked up 

 into a form very suitable for the nourish- 

 ment of the fungus. By this interesting 

 method of cooperation the Hemlock and 

 many other trees receive a large part of 

 their nutrition, and do not reach normal 

 size when deprived of it. The destruc- 

 tion of humus or dead leaves in a forest, 

 therefore, cuts off the most important food 

 supply of the trees, and if continued, will 

 lead to starvation and the disappearance 

 of the forest." Sarah H. Harlow in the 

 Journal of the Nezv York Botanical 

 Garden. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



% he Annual Report of the Commissioner of the 

 General Land Office, for the Fiscal Year end- 

 ing June 30, 1900. 



At last we may turn to the Commissioner's 

 Leport with reasonable assurance of finding be- 

 ides figures and recommendations some account 

 f actual work performed. The appropriation 

 f $300,000 which became available for the ex- 

 enses of the Forest Service July 1, 1900, for the 

 irst time put the Department in a position to 

 ope effectively with the work with which it has 

 ieen legally charged, while a year's previous 

 xperience in forest administration was already 

 the credit of the force. The work of the past 

 ummer undoubtedly shows an appreciable if 

 iot a commensurate improvement. From July 

 irst there have been 9 superintendents, 39 su- 

 >ervisors, and 330 rangers, the number of the 

 ast having been increased July 15th, to 445 for a 

 >eriod of two months. It is obviously too soon 

 o judge of the year as a whole, but it is to be 

 toped, as "it is confidently believed " by the 

 Commissioner, " that with this increased force, 

 ind the possibility of retaining a sufficient force 

 n localities where really needed for a longer 

 jeriod than was possible during the year for 

 which this report is made, the results obtained 

 ilong the whole line of forest-reserve adminis- 

 :ration will prove most satisfactory." 



The organization of the reserve management 

 ias gone on in good part along the lines of map- 

 ping the reserves, of clearing out old trails, of 

 jlazing new ones, and of opening fire breaks. 



The cost of the service for the year covered 

 :>y the report is a fraction less than half a cent 

 per acre, and reaches a total of 1261,636.08. 



Regarding fires it appears that the rangers 

 ''discovered and extinguished 237 more camp 

 fires than last year." What proportion this 

 number bore to the total number of camp fires 

 within their ranges, which they mijjht have 

 "discovered and extinguished," the report does 



not say. Fires which gained considerable head- 

 way numbered 173 as against 223 of the preced- 

 ing season. These fires burned about 70 acres 

 each on the average, while those of the preced- 

 ing season burned 233 acres on the average. 

 The large devastating fires burned last year 

 50,680 acres and cost 12,315 ; the preceding year 

 they burned 79,500 acres and cost $8,835. The 

 Commissioner recommends the appropriation of 

 an emergency fund of $25,000 for the employ- 

 ment of extra assistance at fires. 



Speaking of the Forest Reserves themselves, 

 the Commissioner reports in substance as fol- 

 lows : There are now 38 Reserves, embracing 

 an estimated area of 46,772,129 acres, of which 

 only the included vacant public lands are actu- 

 ally reserved. The Prescott Reserve, in Ari- 

 zona, was enlarged on the petition of numerous 

 citizens of Yavapai count}', because, under the 

 liberty granted by an Act of June 3, 1878, which 

 allows the free taking of timber from public 

 mineral lands in Arizona, the timber adjacent 

 to the original Prescott Reserve was being rap- 

 idly removed to supply large mining corpora- 

 tions, which could with a rx< minal increase of 

 expense, get the wood just as conveniently from 

 the San Francisco Mountains. The very dis- 

 advantageous working of the law above cited 

 has already been emphatically noticed by a 

 writer in these pages.* The Department has 

 been insisting upon its repeal for over twenty 

 years. The Big Horn Reserve has also been en- 

 larged so as to make its boundaries coincide 

 more closely with the natural limits of the 

 forest area. The Olympic Reserve has been re- 

 duced in area 264,960 acres. This step may, as 

 is claimed, have had some plausibility with ref- 

 erence to local interests. Unhappily, however, 



*See The Forester for July, 1900, page 158. 

 T. Cleveland, Jr., "Forest Law in the United 

 States." 



