474 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



November, 



in trees of various diameters was esti- 

 mated. The minimum size of a post was 

 considered seven feet long and four 

 inches in diameter at the small end. 

 Multiplying the number of posts in each 

 diameter class, both dominant and sup- 

 pressed, it was found that there are ap- 

 proximately 320 posts, which, it is be- 

 lieved, is a low estimate. Allowing five 

 cents apiece for posts in the standing 

 trees, this would mean a total value of 

 sixteen dollars, not allowing for the few 

 trees which have been cut off. At this 

 rate a complete acre would yield eighty 

 dollars. 



The large proportion of suppressed 

 trees, these being 43 per cent of the 

 total present stand of living trees ; the 

 decreasing rate of height and diameter 

 growth, all emphasize the well-known 

 silvicultural principle of the intolerance 

 of L,arch to shade. If the trees had 

 been planted farther apart, and thus 

 allowed space for a better crown devel- 

 opment, the struggle for existence would 

 have been more prolonged, and a greater 

 accretion of timber would have resulted. 

 The excellent natural pruning which 

 the grove now displays might not have 

 been produced by more open planting, 

 but this could easily have been reme- 

 died by an underplanting of some tol- 



erant tree, which would have served 

 the three-fold office of pruning the Larch, 

 protecting the soil, and producing a sec- 

 ondary crop of timber. The total lack 

 of humus bears ample evidence that a 

 more complete ground cover was needed. 

 The growth of many seedlings and 

 small saplings of Hard Maple, Dog- 

 wood, and Beech, which have come in 

 naturally, show that an under story of 

 such species is entirely feasible. Now 

 that the trees have practically reached 

 their height growth, a thinning would 

 be of no appreciable value, since the 

 crowns are too small to produce much 

 wood, even if more light were admitted. 

 A more open planting in the first 

 place, with subsequent underplanting 

 and timely thinning, would have pro- 

 duced much better results than the 

 neglectful method followed. Not only 

 would a greater amount of timber have 

 been produced, but it would have been 

 of a nuich higher grade, for instead of 

 deteriorating at the present time it 

 would be improving. In thirty or forty 

 years it would have produced a large 

 number of telegraph poles, worth at 

 least a dollar apiece on the stump ; a 

 considerable number of fence posts, and 

 a supply of cordwood from the under- 

 growth. 



THE UNIVERSITIES' INTEREST IN IRRI- 

 GATION PROBLEMS. 



BY 



DR. WILLIAM F. SLOCUM, 



PRESIDENT OF COLORADO COLLEGE. 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVETT said in 

 his message of last December that 

 " the forest and water problems are the 

 most vital internal questions of the 

 United States. ' ' With two-fifths of the 

 area of the whole country requiring irri- 

 gation in order that good crops may be 

 produced, we recognize the truth of this 

 statement. We are informed that 74,- 

 000,000 acres of the 600,000,000 can 

 and ought to be irrigated within the 



near future. This creates a problem 

 which necessitates intelligent considera- 

 tion and the service of specially trained 

 engineers. The undertaking is too vast 

 and the public interest is too great to 

 await the action of private business en- 

 terprises. It is a matter of national 

 concern, and the government alone can 

 adequately handle the problem. 



With the annual export of nearly a 

 billion dollars' worth of farm products 



