n6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



been inspired by a proper appreciation 

 of the forest growth of the mountains 

 of the state, so important to its irrigation 

 and other interests. 



J* 



Game on For- The United States Sen- 

 est Reserves. ate has already passed 

 the Perkins bill for the 

 protection of wild animals, birds, and 

 fish in the forest reserves. The bill au- 

 thorizes the President to set aside areas 

 in the forest reserves as breeding places 

 for game, and prohibits hunting, trap- 

 ping, and fishing within these areas. 



That such a measure is needed was 

 pointed out in the January issue of FOR- 

 ESTRY AND IRRIGATION, in speaking of 

 the newly consolidated Teton- Yellow- 

 stone -Absaroka Reserves, where the 

 ' ' work on these reserves is almost en- 

 tirely patrol work, the protection of 

 game receiving particular attention. 

 Being a wild section of country, in which 

 large numbers of elk and deer (also some 

 moose, coming from the National Park) 

 find a winter range, this district has for 

 years been a favorite haunt of poach- 

 ers, elk-tooth hunters, etc. , and the pro- 

 tection at last accorded these animals by 

 a proper enforcement of laws is a timely 

 improvement." 



But more than a mere enforcement of 

 game laws is needed, and some measure 

 should be taken to offset conditions re- 

 ported from these reserves under date of 

 February 17. At that time 10,000 elk 

 were starving. Snow seven feet deep 

 covered their feeding ground and tem- 

 peratures as low as forty below zero 

 added to their sufferings. News of the 

 critical condition of the elk herds 

 reached Superintendent A. A. Ander- 

 son, who was in New York, and he at 

 once ordered that a temporary supply of 

 wild hay, at his own expense, be dis- 

 tributed as soon as possible at con- 

 venient points by the force of thirty 

 rangers. 



Jt 



To Study Des- Frederick V. Coville, 

 ert Growths. chief of the Division of 

 Botany, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and Dr. D. T. 

 MacDottgal, assistant director of the 

 New York Botanical Garden, have re- 



cently left Washington for a general 

 survey of the arid regions lying between 

 the Pecos River, Texas, and the Pa- 

 cific Ocean, southern California. The 

 survey is for the purpose of fixing 

 upon a site for the newly projected des- 

 ert botanical laboratory which is to be 

 established by the Carnegie Institution 

 in order to carry on special researches 

 into the life-history and physiology of 

 desert plants. The Carnegie Institu- 

 tion has appropriated $8,000 for the 

 first year's expenses. Mr. Coville and 

 Dr. MacDougal have been appointed as 

 an advisory board, having practically 

 entire charge of the whole matter. It 

 was announced recently by Dr. Mac- 

 Dougal that Dr. W. A. Cannon, assist- 

 ant in the laboratories of the New York 

 Botanical Garden, had been appointed, 

 upon the nomination of the advisory 

 board, resident investigator in charge of 

 the desert laboratory. Dr. Cannon will 

 enter upon his new duties as soon as the 

 laboratory is built and equipped. It is 

 expected that it will be in working order 

 by September i next. 



The trip of the advisory board, which 

 is considered an errand of much impor- 

 tance, will probably occupy about six 

 weeks. Both members of the board 

 have made extensive explorations in 

 these arid regions within the last ten 

 years, and this expedition is made espe- 

 cially to visit areas which they have not 

 examined before. Mr. Coville is well 

 known for his work in the famous Death 

 Valley region of California in connec- 

 tion with the government expedition to 

 that place in 1891. He and Dr. Mac- 

 Dougal expect to visit Death Valley in 

 the course of this trip. 



Toronto Uni- Toronto University, the 

 versity and State university of the 

 Forestry. Province of Ontario, is 



realizing the importance 

 of the subject of forestry. President 

 lyoudon has pointed out that the Crown 

 forests of Canada exceed those of the 

 United States and Russia put together. 

 The Senate of the University has pro- 

 vided a curriculum for a course in for- 

 estry, and at its last meeting the Alumni 

 Association, believing that the scientific 



