1 903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



435 



cause the matter was in the hands of a 

 practical lumberman, the rules were 

 applied by the jobbers without any in- 

 crease whatever in price, which means 

 that the cost of the logging to the owner 

 over ordinary methods was nothing at 

 all. Forest destruction in logging is 

 often a matter of habit of mind. As 

 soon as the logger falls into the way of 

 saving young growth, he does it as a 

 natural consequence of his work, with- 

 out thought and practically without 

 greater cost of time or effort than his 

 work demanded before. 



One of the most effective methods of 

 forest reproduction for the use of the 

 farmer is technically called the Group 

 System. L,ike the rest of forestry, it is 

 simply an application of the methods 

 which we learn from Nature herself. 

 You have all seen over and over again 

 where a single tree or half a dozen 

 trees together have fallen in the forest 

 from wind or some other cause, and 

 have left an opening which has come 

 to be filled with young growth. The 

 tallest and most vigorous trees will be 

 in the middle of the opening and the 

 smaller ones under the denser shade of 

 the sides. All that is necessary to ex- 

 tend the reproduction in such a case is to 

 cut away the old trees at the sides of the 

 hole. If you need timber faster than 



a single opening will produce it, make 

 others. Then, as the young growth 

 spreads, these holes will spread, and 

 gradually you will find the whole sur- 

 face of the ground has been occupied by 

 young growth, which, spreading like a 

 series of spots of oil on the surface of the 

 water, gradually meet. Then your re- 

 production is complete, and the forest 

 cover has never been seriously broken. 

 This is perhaps the simplest of what we 

 call the silvicultural systems, and the one 

 decidedly the best adapted for the wood- 

 lot of the farmer. Nothing more need be 

 said of it except to make the openings 

 comparatively small, not more than twice 

 the height of the trees, to work up the 

 trunk and the top immediately after they 

 are down, and to let the young growth 

 spread gradually year after year until 

 the openings run together. Young trees 

 that have been crushed from the fall of 

 an older tree, if released at once, spring 

 up and make good timber, but they may 

 be permanently ruined if the} 7 a re pressed 

 down for three or four days. 



Such work as this is simply and easily 

 carried out, and with these simple pre- 

 cautions leads, wherever the reproduc- 

 tion is good, and that is nearly every- 

 where throughout the humid regions 

 of the United States, safely and inev- 

 itably to the preservation of the forest. 



PRACTICAL IRRIGATION A SUCCESS IN 



FLORIDA. 



FACTS AND STATISTICS CONCERNING THE 

 RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF A MOST IMPOR- 

 TANT PART OF THE STATE'S NATURAL WEALTH. 



THE adoption of extensive irriga- 

 tion enterprises in Florida came 

 as a natural result from several funda- 

 mental causes, chief among which is the 

 fact that in Florida irrigation can be 

 applied to a relatively larger area than 

 in any other state in the Union. Prac- 

 tically the entire surface of the state is 

 level, nowhere reaching an altitude of 

 500 feet, and, in addition to this, the 

 water supply is readily available and 

 inexhaustible. The state's total area is 



58,680 square miles, of which 4,440 

 square miles, or 8 per cent, is water, 

 making the state first in the extent of 

 its water surface. Aside from the sur- 

 face waters of lakes and streams, there 

 appears to be a great artesian basin 

 near the coast line extending entirely 

 around the state and to areas adjacent 

 to tidal rivers and large lakes. On the 

 ridges or higher lands in the central 

 part the wells do not have a surface 

 flow, but afford an abundant supply of 



