1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



93 



geles County in favor of preserving the 

 big trees of California. 



Also a resolution of the San Fran- 

 cisco Chamber of Commerce favoring 

 the purchase of the Calaveras big trees. 



January 21. 



In the House : Mr. Mondell, from 

 the Committee on the Public Lands, to 

 which was referred the bill of the House 

 (H. R. 4866) prohibiting the selection 

 of timber lands in lieu of lands in for- 

 est reserves, reported the same with 

 amendment, accompanied by a report 

 (No. 445); which said bill and report 

 were delivered to the Clerk and referred 

 to the House Calendar. 



By Mr. Shackleford : A bill (H. R. 

 IO 759) Ior the purchase of a national 

 forest reserve along the Niangua River, 

 to be known as the National Niangua 

 Forest Reserve. 



The following petitions were laid on 

 the clerk's desk : 



By the Speaker : A memorial of the 

 faculty of Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege relating, to the preservation of the 

 big trees of California. 



By Mr. Gardner, of New Jersey : A 

 petition of the Outdoor Art League 

 relating to the preservation of the big 

 trees of California. 



January 22. 



In the House : Mr. Emerich laid 

 upon the clerk's desk a resolution of 

 the Amalgamated Woodworkers' Inter- 

 national Local Union, No. 7, of Chi- 

 cago, favoring the repeal of the desert- 

 land law. 



Also a similar petition from local 

 union No. 135, Amalgamated Meat Cut- 

 ters and Butchers of North America. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



.Any of these books will be sent by the publishers of "Forestry and Irrigation" postpaid, to any 

 address on receipt of the published price, with postage added when the price is marked "net." 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. Field Opera 

 tions of the Bureau of Soils. 1902. Fourth 

 Report. 839 pp., 60 plates, 25 figures, 44 

 maps (in separate portfolio case). 



In a general review of the work of the year 

 Milton Whitney, Chief of the Bureau, states 

 that the organization of the Bureau remains the 

 same as during the preceding year. Fifteen 

 soil survey parties have been maintained during 

 most of the year. 



The work in the United States proper has 

 been in charge of Thomas H. Means, while 

 that in the insular possessions has been directed 

 by Clarence W. Dorsey. In the latter part of 

 the year Mr. Means was, at his own request, 

 placed in charge of the alkali reclamation 

 work, which is giving such promise of large 

 returns in successful agriculture. 



As an illustration of the rapid progress of the 

 work of this important Bureau, it may be said 

 that previous to the field season of 1902 the en- 

 tire area mapped by its experts amounted to 

 15,900 square miles. During the single year 

 covered by the present report the area mapped 

 was 18,000 square miles, embracing 36 areas in 

 26 states and territories and Porto Rico. The 

 expense of these surveys averages 33 cents per 

 loo acres. 



The body of the report is taken up with de- 

 scriptions of the work done on the several areas 

 examined, explanations of the problems aris- 

 ing, and the deductions and recommendations 

 of the soil experts. 



Irrigators should feel interest in the advice 



for treatment of alkali in soils and the discus- 

 sions of underground and seepage waters and 

 general reclamation in the arid and semi-arid 

 states. 



Seventh Report, Forest, Fish, and Game Commis- 

 sion, State of New York. J. B. Lyon Co., 

 vState Printers. Albany, N. Y. 



This volume is one which should be found in 

 the library of every forester. It is quite the 

 handsomest and most elaborate publication of 

 its kind that has ever come to the notice of this 

 office, the only point which could be unfavor- 

 ably commented upon being the binding, which 

 is not up to the standard set by the rest of the 

 book. There are 534 pages, embellished with 

 many remarkably handsome colored plates by 

 Oliver Kemp, Louis Agassiz Fuertez, L. H. 

 Joutel, and others, in addition to black and 

 white illustrations. 



A large portion, at least, of the material of 

 this report has already been published, some 

 of which, as the Annual Report of the Forest, 

 Fish, and Game Commission, has received pre- 

 vious mention in this column. 



But it has never been presented before in 

 such attractive guise and under one cover. 

 In addition to the routine reports of the Com- 

 mission, ten articles are presented, all of which 

 are interesting to the sportsman and the for- 

 ester, and some of which are of high technical 

 value. Here is the list : 



The St. Lawrence Reservation, Arthur B. 

 Strough. 



