190] 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



the State west to an irregular line drawn 

 from Harlan county to Custer and Cherry. 

 (See Map No. 5.) Should be grown ex- 

 tensively in the region of its natural range, 

 and for some distance beyond. Although 

 its timber is by no means as valuable as 

 that of the White Oak it furnishes a valu- 

 able fuel, and is worthy of being grown 

 for this purpose alone. That it can be 

 grown very easily is shown by the fact that 

 in many places the Bur Oak forests are 

 now spreading spontaneously, without 

 active aid from man. This is the case 

 moreover along the western border of its 

 range, as well as eastward. 



Red Oak. 



Quercus rubra I.. Sp. P . 

 Next to the Bur( >ak, this 

 distribution in thi - 

 ward hum Richardson < ounty t" Lan 

 ter and northward 1-. Dixon. 



Tins species is worthy of v< neral 



planting in the eastern half <>! th< Si 

 Its wood is valuable not only for fuel but 



stdl more for use in the manufactun 

 furniture, and there is no reason why the 



supply should not be met '11 part 1>\ plain- 

 ing on the eastern plains. 



THE RECLAMATION OF THE ARID REGION 



By R. L. Fulton. 



A 



LEADING citizen of Nebraska, 

 when in Congress not many years 

 ago, mildly opposed forestry and 

 irrigation for the reason, as he said, 

 that there was already an over-pro- 

 duction of agricultural crops and that 

 to add to their quantity meant still 

 harder times for the farmer. This senti- 

 ment is rather strong in parts of the East 

 and South and it is the chief obstacle in 

 the way of intelligent legislation. It is 

 due in part to a misunderstanding of eco- 

 nomic laws and in part to ignorance of 

 the resources and requirements of the dis- 

 tant West, an ignorance which is shared 

 even by the settlers themselves. For the 

 first time in history the Anglo-Saxon has 

 to solve the problem of reclaiming an 

 arid region. His forefathers belonged to 

 the stronger race and taking for their share 

 the best watered portions of Europe they 

 drove the Latin nations south to the dry 

 plains and low mountains adjacent to the 

 Mediterranean Sea. Thus all our tradi- 

 tions, our laws and customs, and all our 

 systems of agriculture are planned for too 

 much water instead of too little, for drain- 

 age instead of irrigation. 



The truth is that instead of competitors 

 we shall always be customers for our 

 brethren to the" East. The tillable lands 

 of the inter-mountain region are so limited 



* Read at the Summer meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Forestry Association, Denver, Col., Aug. 27- 

 29. 



in extent, so widely scattered and so sur- 

 rounded by customers in the mine-, the 

 cattle ranges, and along the railroads that 

 there can never be a surplus for export. 

 On the contrary we shall be obliged For 

 ages to depend upon the great t lading cen- 

 ters of the older States for nearly all the 

 manufactured articles we use. We will 

 have plenty to give in exchange, of course, 

 but nothing that will touch the producers 

 of any class, much less the farmer. 



It is one of the blessed things about our 

 great country that every part of it has 

 natural riches which can be developed 

 without coming in competition with those 

 of any other part. The different sections 

 of the union so happily complement each 

 other in all the resources of wealth and 

 raw materials that the greater the activity 

 in any one part the greater the prosperity 

 of all. The centers of the iron industry 

 scattered from the lakes to the gulf, 

 among the first beneficiaries ol each new 

 mining district. 



New England feels in her facb 



growth of a new settlement an\ w lu 



Kansas to California and then 



new ditch built, not a new saw mill star 



that does not draw upon the - 



the nail mills, the carpel makers, and 



furniture wareho 



Tims every fai mer neai such a I 



manufacturing point 1 



fit, I mat kel depends upon tin 



nn n of his home tow n 





