1902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



19 



There is but little time left in which the 

 government can get control of new re- 

 serves, and it must be done now or with 

 enormous difficulty hereafter or not at 

 all. The whole matter is admirably il- 

 lustrated by the stor}' of the New York 

 State forest reser\'e. Years ago, before 

 the Adirondack wilderness was worth 

 anything to sell, far-sighted men tried 

 to secure its reserv-ation for the state. 

 They were laughed at. The result of 

 it is that New York (which has a re- 

 serve of, roughly, a million and a quar- 

 ter acres) has had to pay about $3.50 

 per acre for the more recentl}- acquired 

 parts of it and must probably pay more 

 hereafter. 



Following the creation of reserves is 

 the necessity for a much more intimate 

 knowledge than we have yet of the re- 

 serves themselves and of the character 

 of their forests. You are all familiar 

 with the w^ork which has been done in 

 the Geological Sun-ey toward mapping 

 the forest, the burned areas, the agri- 

 cultural lands, etc. That is an admira- 

 ble first step in that direction, admirably 

 well done, but a much more intimate 

 stud}' must be made of the forest condi- 

 tions on all the reserves before any one 

 will be in position to handle the forests 

 in the best manner. 



One of the largest projects just ahead 

 is the creation of the Appalachian For- 

 est Reserve in the Southern States. 

 You are all familiar, of course, with 

 the general plan. The states in inter- 

 est have, without exception, signified 

 their willingness to yield the necessary 

 jurisdiction to the United States. There 

 has been awakened a very powerful in- 

 terest in the whole subject practicalh' 

 throughout the South, and, with the 

 enthusiastic backing of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, the opportunity is an ad- 

 mirable one. This is one of the ver}- 

 important movements in forest work. 



Another phase of forestry which is 

 rapidly growing is the movement for 

 state forest reserves. Michigan has a 

 small forest reserve, and is anxious to 

 increase it, and to handle it properly. 

 Pennsylvania has about 400,000 acres 

 already reserved. Maryland is studying 

 her forests in cooperation with the Bu- 

 reau of Forestry-. New York, you know, 



has been doing so for some time, and, 

 by the way, in New York one of the 

 important movements of the near future 

 will necessarily be the attempt to repeal 

 that clause of the state constitution 

 which forbids cutting, and therefore 

 forbids practical forestry, on the state 

 lands. Vermont has been having a pre- 

 liminary study of its forests made this 

 summer, also in cooperation with the 

 Bureau of Forestry. California is think- 

 ing of appointing a state forester, and 

 is anxious for a state forest school as a 

 part of the State University. Connecti- 

 cut has appointed a state forester, and 

 has made a small appropriation to pur- 

 chase a forest reser\'e, and all along the 

 line this movement is pointing up. It 

 will certainly be important. 



I want to speak briefly of a few other 

 opportunities only less vast before refer- 

 ring to some of the specific pieces of 

 work that are pending. In the first 

 plgce, there is an enormous field open- 

 ing before the forester who comes in 

 contact with the railroads. The rail- 

 roads use some 120,000,000 new ties a 

 year, if my statistics are correct. They 

 use enormous quantities of timber be- 

 sides for construction in various ways. 

 The}' own immense areas of land, either 

 in land grants in the West or areas they 

 have acquired in the South and East, 

 and their influence on the side of for- 

 estry is going to mean more than almost 

 any other single factor. The Bureau 

 has j ust undertaken a working plan for 

 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for 

 125,000 acres in West Virginia, which, 

 I hope, means the beginning of intimate 

 contact with the great railroads of the 

 country just as fast we have men to do 

 the work and money to pay for it. That 

 is one of the great opportunities, and it 

 is only one of a dozen which there are 

 not yet men and money enough to 

 handle. 



Another great opportunity is off'ered 

 in the South by the turpentine question. 

 One of the largest industries of that sec- 

 tion of the United States is practically 

 disappearing with what may, in all se- 

 riousness, be called frightful rapidity, 

 simply for the lack of modern methods. 

 The turpentine operators, as has so often 

 been the case, began when it made little 



