58 " THE LEAVES OF THE TREE were FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS/ 



capacity of 75,000 to 80,000 per day. Perhaps the average capacity of them all 

 would be about 50,000 feet per day. (To multiply 50,000 by 40 totals 2,000,000 

 feet per day, and by 300 working days in the year, make six hundred millions of feet 

 per annum, for forty years at least forming a grandtotal of 24,000,000,000 feet of 

 redwood alone, exclusive of pine, spruce, fir, oak and cedar removed by lumber- 

 men and forest fires, etc., minus any replenishing effort!) There was manu- 

 factured and shipped from the redwood mills in Mendocino and Humboldt counties 

 during the year 1891 about 230,000,000 feet. Of this about 12,000,000 went to 

 foreign countries, while the balance, 218,000,000 was consumed in the Pacific 



States or shipped to interior States. 



"The State Board of Forestry says: "The water flowing in California rivers is 

 more precious than the gold lying hidden in their sands. So long as the forests 

 cover the mountain sides the streams will flow with some evenness throughout the 

 year; but when the forests disappear the rivers will become rushing torrents in the 

 spring and dry arroyos all the rest of the year. The forests of the Sierra Nevada 

 are the natural reservoirs for irrigation of the San Joaquin valley. Hitherto the 

 mountains have been left to the sheep-herder and the millman, who have wrought 

 destruction unheeded and unchecked. Sheep-raising and timber-cutting are legiti- 

 mate pursuits and entitled to fair treatment, but as conducted in California for 

 many years they have not been conducive to the general welfare. The millman 

 has slashed the forests recklessly, wasting more than he used and not confining his 

 operations to his own property. The sheep-herder, caring only for pasturage, has 

 set fire to the brush annually, burning off the young growth and killing the large 

 trees. The seedlings and shoots that escaped the forest fires were destroyed by the 

 sheep. And so not only has the mature forest been greatly injured but the total 

 extinction of the forest growth made inevitable unless the work of devastation be 

 stopped." 



A TARDY YET OPPERTUNE PROTEST. 



(San Francisco Examiner May ZSth, 1893.) 



[Special to the EXAMINER.] 



WASHINGTON, May 27. Commissioner Lamoreux of the General Land Office to- 

 day rendered one of the most important decisions that has come from the Land 

 Office in many years, when he decided the famous Kedwood land case in the Hum- 

 boldt district, California. By his decision over 148,000 acres of valuable timber is 

 decided to be the property of the Government on account of the fraudulent entries 

 made by persons who were trying to get this timber from the Government. The 

 probabilities are that the parties who have been defeated in this case will imme- 

 diately appeal it to the Secretary of the Interior, but now that there is a Democrat 

 in that office he will probably not allow the country to be robbed by speculations, 

 and the decision of the Commissioner will doubtless be affirmed. It is also probable 

 that in the near future this entire tract, with, perhaps, additional lands adjoining, 

 will be set apart as a forest reservation to prevent its dispoilation to reserve it for 

 future use. Assistant Commissioner Bowers of the General Land Office has been 

 all through that country and he recognizes the importance of forest preservation, 

 and when the Commissioner's decision was brought to his attention to-day he at 

 once saw the importance of having the President issue a proclamation reserving 

 this land from further encroachments and depredations. The redwood land case 

 has created a great deal of interest in the West, and the decision of the Commis- 

 sioner will no doubt be gratifying to all persons who sought the preservation of 

 these lands." 



In the May number of this year's Plant Life, a San Francisco monthly 

 journal devoted to the advancement of " horticulture, viticulture and 

 floral vegetation," appeared an interesting article under the heading of 

 " Need of a Higher Education," from which I quote the following : 



"Plant diseases are not only alarmingly increasing in general, but the affec- 

 tions are becoming more serious in their characters. With these facts promin- 



