58 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



February, 1902. 



introduced a bill which is intended to 

 try an experiment of national irrigation, 

 as he believes that it is not hkely that 

 any general proposition can pass the 

 House, although in the Senate the large 

 vote from the arid states is a very im- 

 portant factor. 



Mr. I^acey's bill proposes to authorize 

 the Secretary of the Interior to select a 

 tract of land not exceeding one million 

 acres, situated in two or more states, or 

 in a state and territory, or wholly within 

 a territory, and to set apart the same as 

 an ' ' experimental national irrigation 

 district." His idea is to make it an in- 

 terstate or territorial proposition, as 

 thereby a district would be selected that 

 a single state could not possibly handle, 

 because the land and water would not 

 be both within the states controlling the 

 work. Of course, the land in a territory 

 would be wholly within control of the 

 national government, and that would 

 make it a national proposition. The 

 Secretary, having selected the land and 

 organized an irrigation district, would 

 be empowered by the bill to use wide 

 discretion in his method of reclaiming 

 land and furnishing water suppl3^ The 

 land, under the bill, would be opened 

 to homestead settlers, and the Secretary 

 would have the right, where the land is 

 fruit land, to reduce the size of the 

 homestead under the ordinary 160-acre 

 limit. 



J- 



Student Assist- The Student Assistants 

 ant Seminar, in the Bureau of Fores- 

 try have organized what 

 they call ' ' The Student Assistant Sem- 

 inar." The object of the Seminar is to 

 promote professional spirit among the 

 students and to bring them together for 

 the freest discussion of topics of interest 

 in connection with forestry. 



The Seminar meets every Monday af- 

 ternoon at the Bureau of Forestry. The 

 regular order of business at the meetings 

 is the reading of-minutes, the presenta- 

 tion of two papers, with discussions after 

 each, the opening of the "Question 

 Box," and the assignment of papers for 

 future meetings. 



A number of meetings have already 

 been held, and the interest in them has 



increased steadily. The "Question 

 Box" has never been empty, and its 

 contents have furnished topics of papers 

 for each meeting. Regular instruction, 

 of course, cannot be given in the Bureau 

 of F'orestry, and this attempt of the 

 Student Assistants to make the most of 

 the good opportunity for profitable study 

 afforded them by the Bureau shows with 

 what earnestness they have entered upon 

 their work. 



J- 



Yale Forest Mr. Henry S. Graves, 



Students Study Director of the Yale 

 Lumbering;. Forest School, in De- 



cember sent the entire 

 senior class to various lumber camps in 

 Maine and Pennsylvania. All senior 

 lectures were discontinued for the time, 

 and the work was transferred to the 

 woods. 



The course of instruction in lumber- 

 ing in the present year's work of the 

 Yale Forest School included a three 

 weeks' stay in some one of the principal 

 lumbering regions of the Northeastern 

 States. The choice of the region to 

 which each student should go was left 

 to the student himself, and when the 

 choice had been made he was provided 

 with a letter of introduction to some 

 lumberman in the region, and with a 

 very complete list of questions covering 

 the subject which he was to investigate. 



Four members of the class went to 

 Maine, and through the courtesy of 

 Messrs. Davis and Marston (Greenville 

 and Skowhegan, Me.) the party were 

 allowed to stay in their camps, situated 

 on the east shore of Moosehead Lake. 

 An admirable opportunity was afforded 

 to study the lumbering methods, as 

 three of the camps were in operation 

 and easily accessible to the party. 



The remaining members of the class 

 chose Clearfield County, Pa., as their 

 field of observation, where they had a 

 good opportunity to witness the cutting 

 of White Pine and Hemlock on the 

 tracts of Mr. John DuBois. 



It is the purpose of Mr. Graves to 

 make this trip of the seniors to lumber 

 camps an annual event ; it is to be just 

 as much a part of the course as the 

 class-room lectures. 



