3 26 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



July 



germinated. This work has had the 

 interest and cooperation of the country 

 which it affects. The Los Angeles 

 County Water and Forest Association 

 contributed $266, and the board of 

 trade of Pasadena $600, toward the 

 expense of planting. The country is 

 alarmed at a decreasing water supply, 

 and the conserving influence of trees on 

 the burned slopes is a vital matter. A 

 squad of 10 to 15 men under Mr. T. P. 

 Lukens, of Pasadena, has been planting 

 seeds for three months. Knob-cone 

 Pine has been planted in the dry, 

 burned spots ; Incense Cedar and Sugar 

 Pine in the moister, cooler places, and 

 Western Yellow Pine in all situations. 

 The work gives promise of good results. 

 Nebraska. One hundred acres of land 

 in the sand hills of the Dismal River 

 Forest Reserve, Nebraska, were planted 

 this spring by the Bureau of Forestry- 

 eight}' acres in pine seedlings, 100,000 

 being set out ; the other twenty acres 

 were planted with seed. The work will 

 be continued this summer, and the nur- 

 sery will be enlarged so as to cover two 

 acres. The Bureau intends to increase 

 the size of the nursery gradually, so as 

 to make it grow enough seedling trees 

 ever}' year to furnish sufficient stock 

 for the planting. It is intended to plant 

 the whole of the Niobrara and Dismal 

 River reserves, which are now barren 

 sand hills, to forest. The Dismal River 

 Reserve includes 86,000 acres ; the Nio- 

 brara Reserve, 126,000. Asurveyofthe 

 boundaries of the Niobrara Reserve will 

 be made this summer. 



To Map The federal government 

 Alaskan has undertaken the map- 

 Forests, ping of the forest areas of 

 southern Alaska, and for 

 that purpose has sent Mr. W. A. L,an- 

 gille, a timber cruiser in the employ of 

 the Bureau of Forestry, to make a gen- 

 eral reconnoissance to ascertain the 

 quantity, quality, varieties, and location 

 of timber along the Pacific coast from a 

 point near the southern boundary and 

 working north. He will probably get 

 as far as Skagway this year. Other 

 cruisers will follow him, as the territory 

 to be covered is vast. The results of 



these surveys will be embodied in maps, 

 which will be of great value to lumber- 

 men and to others interested in the re- 

 sources of the region. A number of 

 sawmills are already in operation in 

 this region. The rainfall throughout 

 this part of the country is great, and the 

 sea fogs carry much moisture. As a 

 consequence the forest growth is rank, 

 there are quantities of down timber, and 

 the wooded slopes are covered with dense 

 undergrowths and damp moss. Fire 

 can make but little headway, and each 

 year sees an enormous waste from older 

 trees which die and fall. The principal 

 trees are Hemlock, Spruce, Yellow and 

 Red Cedar. With good methods of 

 transportation, lumbering operations 

 should vie with fisheries as one of the 

 great industries of the territory. 



Jt 



Addition to A deed has been record- 

 Pennsylvania ed in the register' s office 

 Forest at Lewistown, Pa., con- 



Reserves, veying 4,613 acres of 



forest land to the state. 

 This is all mountain land, situated in 

 Armagh township, MifHin county, and 

 will be added to the forest reserves. At 

 present the timber on it is young, the 

 mature trees having been cut off for 

 mine props by the William Whitmer 

 & Sons Co., which turned the land over 

 to the f-tate for a consideration of 

 $13,838, or just $3 an acre. 



j* 



Forestry and The current issue of the 

 Irrigation in ' ' Year Book of the De- 

 the Year partment of Agricult- 



Book. 



ure ' contains much 



that is of .interest on 

 forestry and irrigation. William L. 

 Hall, Chief of the Division of Forest 

 Extension, of the Bureau of Forestry, 

 who has charge of all the tree-planting 

 experiments carried on by the govern- 

 ment, discusses the possibilities of his 

 work and makes the significant state- 

 ment that the best value from such 

 work comes from such areas as have 

 been practically deforested, or in places 

 where it is desirable to start forest 

 growth. "Forest planting," he says, 

 ' is not practicable in those regions 

 which are as yet well timbered and in 



