424 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



the effect of grazing, and the control of 

 fires. The terrible losses suffered by 

 Maine this spring from forest fires 

 point to the fact that the state needs a 

 vigorous forest policy to protect her 

 greatest source of wealth. 



The Truckee Although there has been 

 Valley Irriga- no necessity for as many 

 tion Project. preliminary steps, and, 

 from this cause, less gen- 

 eral comment on the Truckee River pro- 

 ject to be undertaken under the provis- 

 ions of the national irrigation act, still 

 that project is in many ways farther 

 advanced than any of the others. It 

 has been more fortunate than the other 

 four proposed national irrigation ven- 

 tures from the fact that there was less 

 deeded land lying under its proposed 

 canals, thus making it far easier to adj ust 

 land matters. It is predicted that this 

 reclamation scheme will more than 

 double the population of Nevada, and 

 bring a class of home-builders who will 

 do much for the welfare of the state, in- 

 stead of merely extracting the mineral 

 wealth and having their homes and 

 general interests elsewhere. The con- 

 tract for canal construction was awarded 

 to Charles A. Warren & Co., of San 

 Francisco, and the E. B. and A. L,. 

 Stone Company, of Oakland, Cal., the 

 lowest bidders. It is proposed to take 

 1,400 cubic feet of water a second from 

 the Truckee River about 30 miles east 

 of Reno, Nevada, and divert it by means 

 of a canal 32 miles long, with laterals ex- 

 tending over some 300,000 acres of land. 

 This will accommodate from 30,000 to 

 50,000 settlers, and under the admin- 

 istration proposed by the United States 

 each one will be assured of water and 

 at a rate not to exceed $2 per acre a year. 

 This is the first definite action taken 

 by the Interior Department looking to 

 actual construction under the reclama- 

 tion act. 



California The lectures on forestry 

 Summer held at Idyllwild, San Ja- 

 School of cinto Mountains, River- 

 Forestry, side county, California, 

 during the past month 

 were well attended, and accomplished 



much in the way of properly defining 

 the difference between arboriculture and 

 silviculture, or between aesthetic and 

 economic growing of trees. The forest 

 lesson of most importance to the state 

 of California, and particularly to the 

 southern part of that State, is concerned 

 directly with the water supply for irri- 

 gation, and on that account there is great 

 interest in the work of forest preserva- 

 tion and reforestation now being carried 

 on by the Bureau of Forestry. 



The regular lectures were under the 

 auspices of the University of California, 

 and were given by Dr. Willis L,. Jepson, 

 of the department of botany, and Pro- 

 fessor Arnold V. Steubenrauch, of the 

 department of agriculture. The former 

 discussed the life histories of several 

 trees and of those peculiar to California, 

 and the latter took up questions of 

 forestry. In addition to the regular 

 courses, there were several lectures by 

 Ralph S. Hosmer, of the Bureau of 

 Forestry, who is investigating the forest 

 resources of southern California. T. P. 

 Lukens, of Pasadena, an agent of the 

 Bureau, who is greatly interested in re- 

 foresting the mountains near the south- 

 ern California orange groves, spoke of 

 the work he has done toward reforesta- 

 tion and the measures which should be 

 generally recommended. 



In this connection it is interesting to 

 note that five members of the Bureau of 

 Forestry are investigating conditions on 

 Mt. Lowe and the surrounding moun- 

 tains to find out the best trees for re- 

 foresting the bare slopes which have 

 been swept by fire. They will probably 

 establish a forest tree seed nursery near 

 Pasadena, in order to set out seedling 

 trees, which they have found to be better 

 than "in place" planting of seed. 

 Much attention is also being directed to 

 the matter of prevention of forest fires. 



California The past few months have 

 Irrigation been notable for an in- 

 Plans. creased activity in irriga- 



tion projects for California, 

 and a number of new ventures have been 

 started, while old companies have been 

 rejuvenated and have entered the field 

 again, better prepared for service than 



