FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



January- 



A CEDAR SWAMP AFTER A FIRE, SOUTHERN NEW JERSEV. 



detriment of the state in many ways. 

 The state is most favorably located for 

 the sale of wood, having excellent means 

 of transport, both by rail and water, with 

 markets near at hand, and is also ad- 

 mirably fitted for wood production, 

 owing to favorable soil and climatic con- 

 ditions. A great variety of valuable 

 species will grow well, if protected and 

 encouraged, on the mountains of the 

 north and in the sandy districts of the 

 south. Very little has as yet been ac- 

 complished in this line in the state. We 

 sincerely hope that you will use your 

 influence in the formation of a commis- 



sion and the appointment 

 of an educated state for- 

 ester to take charge of 

 forest matters. We re- 

 spectfully recommend 

 that the state forester, in 

 addition to his duties as 

 secretary to the Forest 

 Commission, be appoint- 

 ed professor of forestry 

 in the State Agricultural 

 College. 



Much attention is paid 

 to game, but how much 

 more important is the pro- 

 tection of the forests upon 

 which the game is de- 

 pendent ? The question 

 of water supplj' is also 

 an important one, and all 

 admit that the best and 

 purest water comes from 

 an uninhabited and for- 

 ested w^atershed. Here- 

 tofore forestr^^ has been 

 more or less connected 

 with the geological sur- 

 vey. We think, however, 

 that the time is ripe to 

 place the subject on its 

 own footing, with a state 

 forester to push matters 

 and accomplish some- 

 thing before our forests 

 have been completely de- 

 vastated. 

 Yours very respectfully, 

 J. C. Gifford, Prince- 

 ton ; William J. Ward, 

 Montclair ; Charles F. 

 I^ittlejohn, Montclair ; Samuel M. Hig- 

 gins, Flemington ; Edward P. Welsh, 

 German Valley, andH. F. Weiss, Pater- 

 son. ^ 



Hon. Francis G. New- 

 lands, of Nevada, is 

 manifesting his contin- 

 ued interest in irrigation 

 by bringing prominently before the lead- 

 ing men of the Senate and House of Rep- 

 resentatives the claims of the national 

 irrigation movement. He has not only 

 taken a vigorous part in shaping the 

 compromise irrigation bill, but has sig- 



Irrigfation 

 Meeting in 

 Washington, 



