IOO 



THE FORESTER. 



April, 



tion preceding us enjoyed, but neglected 

 to preserve for us, even when it could be 

 purchased for one-tenth of its present 

 value." 



The Aim cf 

 the Forester. 



" There seems still to 

 linger among a large class 

 of people the idea that 

 forestry consists in preventing lumbermen 

 from cutting trees. These good people 

 forget that our civilization is largely built 

 of wood, and that trees must be cut to fur- 

 nish the necessary material. It would be 

 possible, though in most cases foolish and 

 undesirable, to set aside portions where, 

 for some reason, the forest should be left 

 undisturbed ; in such cases of let-alone 

 policy, no forestry, i. e., application of 

 knowledge and skill in reproducing forest 

 crops and keeping up the forest produc- 

 tion, is needed ; nature and proper police 

 forces will take care of such areas. 



" The forester is a harvester as well as a 

 grower of a crop ; he preserves the forest 

 as the human race and all life is preserved, 

 by removal of the old, and reproduction. 

 In this last activity only, or mainly, does 

 he differ from lumbermen; namely, in that 

 he is bound to reproduce, not necessarily 

 the kind of crop that nature planted, but 

 one that is economically most desirable. 

 He may secure this reproduction either by 

 gradually removing the old crop, relying 

 on seeds falling from, and seedlings devel- 

 oping under the mother trees left on the 

 are a natural regeneration or else he may 

 remove the old crop at once and replant 



the cut-over area artificial reforestation 



or he may combine the two methods in a 

 variety of ways. Which method is pref- 

 erable depends upon many considerations, 

 but mainly on financial ones." Dr. B. E. 

 Fernow, Third Report of the Director of 

 the New York State College of Forestry. 



Effects of Fire 

 in Southern 

 California. 



" A year ago last Oc- 

 tober a fire occurred in 

 the mouth of the San 

 Antonio Canon, burning 

 "ut the- side canon, called Stoddard's 

 i m. 



" A gentleman from North Ontario 



took observations during the late storm of 

 the water passing off from the main or 

 San Antonio Canon and that from Stod- 

 dard's Canon ; in fact, he measured it and 

 found that the water running from Stod- 

 dard's Canon was four or five times greater 

 in quantity than the stream running out 

 of the main canyon. The relations be- 

 tween these canyons in size and water 

 shed is as twenty- nine is to two. You 

 can thus see the effect in wastage of burn- 

 ing over a given mountain area. Fur- 

 thermore, it was noted in Stoddard's 

 Canon, burned completely bare, the water 

 flowing in a flood-like volume from that 

 canon ceased altogether immediately af- 

 ter the rain. 



" I have been managing director for 

 some four years in the Del Monte Irriga- 

 tion Company, which supplies irrigating 

 water to 2,100 acres of land. We have a 

 system of wells extending over a distance 

 of a mile, from which our water is ob- 

 tained. These wells until five years ago 

 were flowing artesian wells. 



"I came into the office as director 

 about the time the wells ceased to flow. 

 We placed pumps upon the wells and the 

 first year pumped them down to 16 feet 

 below the surface ; the second year to 30 

 feet; the third year to 45 feet, and this 

 year we pumped to 60 feet. Gentlemen, 

 I am not at all certain that we can suc- 

 cessfully pump another season unless the 

 rain conditions are much more favorable 

 than in the past few years. 



" I have said I doubted our ability at 

 Claremont to pump much longer, but, 

 gentlemen, we are all in the same boat. 

 When we stop pumping the Santa Ana 

 River will be very low indeed, and the 

 wells which you are pumping for a part 

 of your supply have the same ultimate 

 source as our own. Something, in my 

 judgment, has got to be done by us to 

 make these conditions more favorable, or 

 else the pursuit of horticulture in this val- 

 ley will have to be abandoned. I am only 

 telling you this after many years of close 

 observation of this matter. I am trying 

 to lay the truth before you ; something 

 must be done, and done at once. We 

 have too long remained supine, action 







