440 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



November, 



this particular tree was between eight 

 hundred and one thousand years old. 

 In other words, this tree was a seed- 

 ling some time between the 3'ears 900 

 and HOC A. D. 



J- 



A Unique So- The employes of Thomas 

 ciety, Meehan & Sons, the 



well-known nurserymen 

 of Dreshertown, Pa., who for some time 

 have been studying botan}^ at the nur- 

 sery office, have formally organized a 

 horticultural society. A constitution 

 and b}^-laws were drawn up and adopted. 

 The society will be known as the 

 Thomas Meehan Horticultural Society, 

 so named in honor of the late Thomas 

 Meehan. The officers are : Robert B. 

 Cridland, president ; Ernest Hemming, 

 vice-president, and S. Newman Baxter, 

 secretary and treasurer. 



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For If rigation Investigations b y t h e 

 in Northern United States Geolog- 

 Wyoming;* ical Survey are now in 



progress in northern 

 Wyoming with a view to extending the 

 use of the available water supply in that 

 portion of the state. Jeremiah Ahern, 

 an engineer of the Geological Survej-, 

 is in charge of the work. Particular 

 attention is directed to the eastern slope 

 of the Bighorn Mountains, where im- 

 portant storage problems on the head- 

 waters of the Sulphur, Powder, and 

 Tongue Rivers await solution. 



These streams, after leaving the 

 mountains, flow through fertile bench 

 and valley lands which, with proper ir- 

 rigation, would be valuable for agri- 

 cultural development. The rainfall of 

 the region is light during the time water 

 is needed for irrigation, but the winter 

 snows on the mountain slopes are un- 

 usually heavy and furnish large quan- 

 tities of water to the streams. The 

 source of suppl}^ at present is an ex- 

 tremel}^ unsatisfactory one, for the warm 

 rains of spring melt the snow rapidly 

 and produce disastrous floods, in which 

 large quantities of water pass through 

 the streams unused. 



There are, however, a number of 

 lakes in the region favorably situated 

 to be used for storage. One of these 



is Eake de Smet, whose water surface 

 is said to be 30 feet below the lowest 

 part of its rim. In this lake it is pro- 

 posed to store part of the headwaters of 

 the Powder River, thus saving a large 

 body of water for irrigation which i.s 

 now entirely wasted. 



Mr. Ahern has been engaged during 

 the present summer in gaging the flow 

 of the streams on the eastern slope of 

 the Bighorn Mountains and investigat- 

 ing the possibilities and probable cost 

 of water storage in the region. 



Soil Investiga- The Bureau of Soils of 

 tions. the U. S. Department 



of Agriculture is doing 

 valuable work, under the direction of 

 its chief, Mr. Milton Whitney, in alkali 

 investigations, and particularh' where 

 the alkali problem is complicated by 

 irrigation, where the introduction of 

 water brings the alkaline salts to the 

 surface. In northern Africa, and par- 

 ticularly in Algiers and Egypt, condi- 

 tions exist which are so analogous as to 

 be almost identical with those which 

 affect Arizona, New Mexico, and south- 

 eastern California. 



To a great extent difficulties which 

 attend the irrigation of alkaline areas 

 have been overcome in Egypt, and it 

 was to investigate Egyptian methods 

 that the Bureau of Soils sent Mr. Thos. 

 H. Means, in charge of the United 

 States Soils Surveys, on an extended 

 tour through southern France, Algeria, 

 portions of the Sahara, and Egypt. He 

 is peculiarly fitted to the task he had in 

 hand, owing to his investigations of the 

 alkali problem and its connection with 

 irrigation in the southwestern part of 

 the United States 



At the same time, and accompanying 

 Mr. Means, the department sent Mr. 

 Thos. H. Kearny, botanist, of the Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry, to investigate 

 alkali resistant growths. They sailed 

 from New York July i , of this year, and 

 Mr. Means has just returned to Wash- 

 ington. 



He made, in addition to soil investiga- 

 tions, a careful study of irrigation works 

 in all the countries visited. Egypt, he 

 says, is now one of the most prosperous 



