226 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



June, 



bored in the tie and tapped to receive 

 screws of hardwood one and three- 

 eighths inches in diameter at the bot- 

 tom and two inches at the top, each 

 with an iron band to prevent spHtting. 

 The wooden screws are hollow, and the 

 iron spikes or screw spikes are driven 

 into them. The increase in holding 

 power is said to be from 30 to 40 per 

 cent for the new pine ties, while in old 

 ties it is from 33 per cent for beech to 

 62 per cent for oak and 80 per cent for 

 pine. 



Tree Planting: A great interest is being 

 in New shown in the planting 



England. of White Pine in New 



England. Many pri- 

 vate owners and several corporations 

 have this year planted a larger number 

 of either White Pine in pure stand or 

 in mixture with Hard Maple. 



Mr. R. W. G. Welling, at Pajac 

 Point farm, East Greenwich, R. I., has 

 planted on very poor sandj^ soil about 

 thirty acres of forest trees, a portion of 

 the tract being wind-blown sand. Mr. 

 Welling plans to extend year by j^ear 

 the area already planted. At Winches- 

 ter, N. H., and at Wolfboro, N. H., a 

 large amount of planting is planned. 

 The citizens are beginning to renovate 

 their waste pastures and birch-grown 

 woodlands by planting it with small 

 w^hite-pine seedlings. 



Mr. A. G. Moody, manager of the 

 Moody schools at Northfield, Mass., and 

 at Mt. Hermon, Mass., contemplates for- 

 est planting on their extensive grounds. 

 Earge planting operations are being car- 

 ried on about the great Wachusett res- 

 ervoir, near CHnton, Mass. The plant- 

 ing is here under the direct charge of 

 Mr. T. F. Borst, a graduate of the New 

 York State College of Forestry. 



The foregoing forest plantings are a 

 few of those for which plans have been 

 made by the Bureau of Forestry. 



Forest Reserve The bill to transfer the 

 Transfer Bill, administration of the 

 United States forest re- 

 serves from the Interior Department to 

 the Department of Agriculture was de- 

 feated in the House on Tuesday, June 10. 



This action was unexpected, especially 

 for such a reason as really brought about 

 the adverse vote. 



The transfer of the reserves was recom- 

 mended by the Secretary of the Interior, 

 in whose department the reserves now 

 are ; by the Secretary of Agriculture, 

 and b}^ President Roosevelt, who came 

 out strongly in his first message to Con- 

 gress favoring the move. The strongest 

 argument in favor of the proposed trans- 

 fer has been that it would bring about a 

 much needed improvement in the admin- 

 istration of the reserves at a less cost 

 than at present. 



In the face of these recommendations 

 the bill was defeated for the ostensible 

 reason that ' ' it would increase the ex- 

 pense of caring for the reserv'es. ' ' This 

 was the point raised by Representative 

 Cannon, Chairman of the House Com- 

 mittee on Appropriations, who headed 

 the opposition to the bill. It is this 

 same gentleman who, at each session of 

 Congress, saves the nation from bank- 

 ruptcy. 



How thoroughly the nation has been 

 saved in this instance is well illustrated 

 by quoting the President's utterance on 

 this subject : 



"At present the protection of the for- 

 est reserv^es rests with the General Land 

 Office, the mapping and description of 

 their timber with the United States 

 Geological Survey, and the preparation 

 of plans for their conservative use with 

 the Bureau of Forestry, which is also 

 charged with the general advancement 

 of practical forestry in the United States. 

 These various functions should be united 

 in the Bureau of Forestry, to which they 

 properly belong. The present diffusion 

 of responsibility is bad from every stand- 

 point. It prevents that effective coop- 

 eration between the government and the 

 men w^ho utilize the resources of the re- 

 serves without which the interests of 

 both must suffer. The scientific bureaus 

 generally should be put under the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. The President 

 should have by law the power of trans- 

 ferring lands for use as forest reserves 

 to the Department of Agriculture. He 

 already has such power in the case of 

 lands needed by the Departments of War 

 and the Navy." 



