70 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



February, 



ing fiber being probably insured by the 

 rapid growth, which is found at least in 

 the archipelago." 



In other words, if wood merely were 

 wanted the Alaska coast forest contains 

 a prodigious supply; but if lumber of 

 good quality, not culls, is desired, the 

 supply is relatively small ; all of which 

 does not preclude that the time a very 

 distant one may possibly come when, 

 with the Isthmian Canal to bring them 

 within reach, our Eastern posterity may 

 be thankful for the poor substitute of 

 White Pine and native spruce, a con- 

 tingency which the present activity in 

 forest matters promises to forestall. 



Mr. Gannett wonders why the Island 

 of Kadiak and the Alaskan Peninsula 

 farther west and the Aleutian Islands 

 are treeless. "The rainfall," he says, 

 " is ample, the climate little more se- 

 vere than at Sitka, less severe than about 

 Prince William Sound. The suggestion 

 that high cold winds prevent tree growth 

 is negatived by the fact that such winds 

 occur all along the coast in forested as 

 well as non-forested parts." 



While an explanation of this forest- 

 less condition cannot, to be sure, be 

 established with absolute certainty, the 

 student of plant distribution finds, never- 

 theless, quite plausible explanations war- 

 ranted by a closer study of the situation ; 

 and in this the winds play a role, not 

 because they are severe and cold but 

 because of their direction. The Alaska 

 Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands show 

 evidence that they are of recent and 



volcanic origin. A forest could come 

 to them only from the east or northeast, 

 by the gradual extension of the coast 

 forest. To secure this extension it is 

 necessary that the winds should blow^ 

 from the north and east from Septem- 

 ber to May, when the .spruce and hem- 

 lock release their seed, and it should be 

 dry in order to permit the cones to do so. 

 The contrary usually happens : there is 

 during these months a constant succes- 

 sion of southeast and south winds and 

 the air is heavily charged with moisture. 

 For this reason the spread of the forests 

 is at least retarded, and only when, as 

 may occasionally happen in many dec- 

 ades, when favorable wind direction at 

 the right time coincides with a seed 

 year, is progress possible. A most in- 

 teresting example of the wandering of 

 the spruce in recent times is found near 

 Kadiak. 



That trees can at least live much far- 

 ther west than Kadiak Island is proved 

 by a grove of spruces planted by a Rus- 

 sian priest many years ago at Unalaska, 

 500 miles to the westward. These trees, 

 to be sure, do not show that they like 

 the climate ; and after all, if the char- 

 acter of the western and northern winds 

 which strike this part of the Alaska ex- 

 tension were more fully studied, it would 

 be found that they are different as re- 

 gards temperature and moisture from 

 those which have traveled over the Gulf 

 of Alaska. Even on Kadiak Island the 

 open groves are found only in protected 

 coves and valleys. 



AGRICULTURAL COMPETITION IMPOSSIBLE. 



A POPULAR FALLACY IN CERTAIN SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. 



THE fear of some of our eastern 

 farmers that the development of 

 the arid West wall further reduce the 

 value of agricultural lands and products 

 arises from a complete misapprehension 

 of the subject. 



The great increase in farm area in the 

 United States was from i860 to 1890, 

 in what is known as the North Central 

 Division, including the States of Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 



Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and 

 South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. 

 The improved area increased from 52,- 

 000,000 acres to 184,000,000 acres, the 

 principal increase being in Minnesota, 

 Iowa, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kan- 

 sas. Over 80,000,000 acres were brought 

 under cultivation during these thirty 

 years in these five states alone. The 

 population of the United States in 1870 

 was less than 40,000,000, or about half 



