434 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



November, 



vian is most commendable. The ques- 

 tion is not how to extinguish forest fires, 

 but how to prevent them. 



A Practical Mr. Alfred Gaskill, of 

 Fireplace the Bureau of Forestry, 



while traveling in Fin- 

 land, found that the men who live in 

 the woods during cold weather com- 

 monly warm themselves at a unique 

 fireplace, which has several advantages 

 over the ordinary open camp-fire that 

 we use. It is simply a straight-grained 

 log, twelve or more inches in diameter, 

 split in half, with the two parts sepa- 

 rated about four inches by blocks of 

 wood or stones near the ends. A fire of 

 chips and small sticks is built within 

 the cleft, which, gradually eating into 

 the log itself, produces great heat. 



Mr. Gaskill, who furnished the photo 

 from which the accompanying illustra- 

 tion was made, tried this fireplace in 

 camp last summer and found that it 

 worked admirably in front of a tent on 

 a cold, wet da5^ After the log was well 

 heated by as large a fire as the cleft 

 would hold, a few dry sticks added now 

 and then were enough to keep the fire 

 alive and thoroughl}^ warm the tent. 



The device requires little fuel, is in- 

 finitely less likely to set the woods on 

 fire than a fire built upon the ground, 

 and will keep going in the rain. Of 

 course, when the wind is contrar}-, the 

 dweller must choose between the cold 

 and more smoke than is pleasant. In 

 the open, or where the face of a camp 

 can be shifted, it is like a fire built upon 

 the ground, 



J' 



In Favor of The following resolution 

 Forestry and passed by the National 

 Irrigation. Association of Agricult- 



ural Implement and Ve- 

 hicle Manufacturers at their Ninth An- 

 nual Convention at Minneapolis, Minn. , 

 in October, shows the attitude of this 

 prominent organization toward the ques- 

 tions of forestry and irrigation and The 

 National Irrigation Association : 



' ' We reiterate the recommendation 

 of the resolutions passed at our last con- 

 vention at Kansas City, urging every 

 member of this association to be mem- 



bers of The National Irrigation Associa- 

 tion, and we further urge that each and 

 all of our members should do whatever 

 is practicable to enlarge the member- 

 ship of The National Irrigation Asso- 

 ciation, and in every way possible aid 

 the work of that association in main- 

 taining an active and correct public sen- 

 timent as to forestry and irrigation, and 

 organizing the friends of the national 

 irrigation movement so that their in- 

 fluence moy be united and therefore 

 effectual." 



Irrigfation in The following extract 

 Grand River from a letter from Mr. 

 Valley* G. H. Matthes, Grand 



Junction, Colo, contains 

 some interesting information on the 

 value of irrigated lands in that region : 



' ' Inquiry into the normal size of 

 ranches in this valley brings forth the 

 interesting fact that a lo-acre lot in or- 

 chard is all that one man can attend to. 

 This statement I have heard repeated 

 on all sides, and it is next to proverbial in 

 this valle}'. Not only is a lo-acre ranch 

 sufficient to sustain one famil}' ; it is in 

 reality more than sufficient. There are 

 many 5-acre ranches in orchard that 

 sustain single families. From what I 

 can gather, the ideal ranch in this valley 

 consists of 10 acres in alfalfa and 10 in 

 orchard. The care of 20 acres so dis- 

 posed of keeps one man hustling. I 

 find that the ranches of the wealthy 

 fruit-growers on " Fruit Ridge," people 

 that have made their money in fruit- 

 growing, range from ID acres to 40 acres, 

 the greater number being in the neigh- 

 borhood of 20-acre tracts of the best 

 orchard land, and worth up to $1,000 

 per acre. A single acre was sold for 

 this price last year on " Fruit Ridge," 

 and is said to have netted its owner 

 $1,400 the same season. 



" I find that the low duty of water in 

 this valley that is, one-half inch to an 

 acre, or about 80 acres to a cubic foot 

 has an intimate relation to the size of 

 the ranches. Where a man has to irri- 

 gate a few acres with a small stream of 

 a certain nominal number of inches, it 

 it not onl}^ slow but laborious to get the 

 entire area properl}- irrigated. As fre- 



