FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



197 



for both government and state reserves, 

 .and also for timbered areas owned by 



tion along another line that of the 

 closely related subject _f\i5i : ~f<X^- T " 



DUCTION, 



BY 



W. F. HUBBARD, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



ABOUT a hundred years ago Ger- 

 man foresters and economic writ- 

 ers began to predict a fuel famine. Coal 

 had not come into use, and the rapid 

 increase of population and the corre- 

 sponding demand for wood seemed to 

 point to an exhaustion of the fuel sup- 

 ,ply. From this period dates the great 

 ; extent of beech forest which is to be 

 f ofind in middle and southern Germany. 

 g r( ie question of fuel has long since been 

 . atl lved by coal, and, as the demand for 

 Irech is now less than the supply, the 

 tbost recent forest policy has, to a lim- 

 sted extent, advised the change to better- 



ayiag.5Pf~ : and most important step, 

 representing an altogether new depart- 

 ure in the work, is seen in the recent 

 .action by the legislatures of certain of 

 the South Atlantic states in signifying 

 their willingness to yield to the general 

 government the jurisdiction over an ex- 

 tensive .area in the Appalachian region, 

 which it is proposed to set apart as a 

 great forest reserve under the name of 

 the Appalachian Forest Reserve. 



The greatest outreach, however, on 

 the part of the government is seen in its 

 forest work in the Philippines, where 

 its recently established bureau of for- 

 estry , during its first fiscal year, pro- 

 duced in revenue from forest products 

 nearly $200,000 (Mexican), an amount 

 which has since been greatly increased. 



In Porto Rico, also, the government 

 is now preparing to work along similar 

 lines. 



All of which is a gratifying record of 

 progress made in the short space of five 

 years. 



Now, however, development upon a 

 far larger and more comprehensive scale, 

 as regards the government's work, has 

 t>een made imperative by recent legisla- 



In the autumn, before cutting, while 

 the trees are still standing, the ground 

 is strewn with acorns, which are worked 

 in very superficially with mattocks. 

 About 150 pounds of acorns are used 

 per acre, at a cost of $1.50 per hundred, 

 while the labor costs about $4 per acre. 

 This makes a total cost of about $6.25 

 per acre, a rather high figure for Ger- 

 many, but one justified by the high 

 prices prevailing in that region. 



After the acorns have been scattered 

 and worked in, the forest is cut clean. 

 The lumbering still further works the 

 seed into the ground and thoroughly 



* o j. f p j i * t 



est reservations nasTSeen ot urii'oYu ?lY'Je7 

 as far as it has gone ; but as a leading 

 factor in a great national scheme of ir- 

 rigation, which has in contemplation 

 the reclamation of over 60, 000,000 acres 

 of arid lands, it is manifestly inadequate ; 

 and plainly so, for the reason thatit aban- 

 dons the great mass of our forest lands 

 to waste and destruction. These unre- 

 served lands, which are largely western 

 mountain lands, are taken no account 

 of they remain, to all intents and pur- 

 poses, waste lands from which the for- 

 est cover is rapidly being swept through 

 the ravages of fire and in the interest 

 of private gain and speculation. It 

 needs no argument to prove the utter 

 inadequacy of any such forest system. 

 Whatever may have been the results in 

 the past, the larger work which is now 

 upon us requires larger methods ; and 

 it is hoped Congress will complete its 

 legislation in this direction without de- 

 lay. The matter, in its relation to irri- 

 gation, is so vital to the issue that it 

 neither brooks of delay nor of half-way 

 measures, if the future of both forestry 

 and irrigation is to keep pace with the 

 progress thus far made. 



