280 FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION June 



necessity of action by Congress. His principal efforts were at first directed along the line of 

 securing amendments to the River and Harbor Bill, by which reservoirs should be built by the 

 general government as part of its system of river improvement, carried on by the corps of engi- 

 neers of the United States Army. 'He secured the passage of the item authorizing surveys in 

 Wyoming and Colorado, and resulting in a report on the subject, prepared by Capt. Hiram M. 

 Chittenden. 



When it became apparent that the River and Harbor Bill could not become the means of 

 national irrigation, Senator Warren lent his aid to the passage of what is known as the recla- 

 mation law of June 17, 1902. In the administration of this law Senator Warren has taken great 

 interest, and by his counsel and advice has sought to make the operations of the law of advan- 

 tage to the country as a whole as well as to his own state. 



FORESTRY AT HONGKONG. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NOTEWORTHY EXPERIMENT IN TREE 

 PLANTING THAT SHOULD BE IMITATED IN THIS COUNTRY. 



BY 



MARK WINCHESTER, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



A RETROSPECT on the work of the most beautiful combinations of natural 

 English foresters at Hongkong and artificial scenery in the world. The 

 along planting lines may be of interest streets are well shaded, and the white 

 in this country because of the proximity walls of the houses contrast prettily with 

 of that section of Asia to the new pos- the green foliage. Everything is spot- 

 sessions of the United States. Of course lessly clean. And it has been by the 

 the conditions are by no means similar, united efforts of the forester, the archi- 

 because the Philippines at the present tect, and the engineer that this marvel- 

 time are to a great extent heavily for- ous change has been wrought^ 

 ested ; but if the time ever comes when The first record of forest work on the 

 we are to carry on planting operations island is in the late seventies. In 1878 

 there, we may profit greatly by the mis- five thousand cocoa palms were planted 

 takes and experiences of these foresters, for ornamental purposes. It was evi- 



Hongkong was ceded to Great Brit- dently not the proper zone for them, 



ain in 1842, and the city of the same because, although they flourished as 



name has been built almost entirely since far as foliage is concerned, and there- 



that time. Along the water front is a fore answered the purpose for which 



narrow strip, where are situated the they were put in, they did not bear any 



wharves, principal places of business, ripe fruit. The two years intervening 



and the Chinese quarter. From this between 1878 and 1880 were enough to 



commercial district the cliffs rise ab- demonstrate that it would be extremely 



ruptly to a height of 2,000 feet, and on difficult to get trees to grow on the side 



this steep hillside, on streets terraced of the hill, for the plantings of 1878 and 



one almost directly above the other, are 1879 on the exposed slopes were com- 



the homes of the European residents. plete failures. 



When the English first came, this Until 1881 all of the planting was 



hillside was simply a series of barren done with two-year old plants reared in 



rocks, with a few rank weeds here and nurseries established near the planted 



there, and perhaps a little herbage and territory. In the planting of 1881 a 



brushwood along the margins of the departure was made from the plan of 



streams, as its only vegetable growth, previous years, and 60,000 of the trees 



Today the incline from base to summit, resulting from this season's work came 



taken in connection with the superb from seed planted in place. These were 



ocean view, can be classed as one of the all Chinese White Pine (Pinussinensis,} 



