FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



HON. ELON R. BROWN, 



STATE SENATOR FROM THE THIRTY-FIFTH NEW YORK DISTRICT. 



Senator Brown has been conspicuously active in the legislature this year in forwarding measures 



looking to the welfare of New York forests. 



eluded from forest reserves, but there is 

 a side to the question which is fre- 

 quently overlooked by those advocating 

 the exclusion of such lands. As a rule, 

 these areas are at high altitudes and are 

 useful mainly for producing wild hay. 

 The little mountain streams can readily 

 be diverted upon these lands, the water 

 spread over the surface, and forage crops 

 obtained. 



Some of the water thus applied finally 

 returns to the stream by percolation, and 

 serves to maintain the summer flow, but 

 from one-half to two-thirds of it is lost by 

 evaporation, and the little tributaries 

 which swell the main stream are practi- 

 cally cut off. In case of a river whose 

 flow is entirely appropriated for the use 

 of lands in the lower valleys, this results 

 in very serious losses. For every acre of 



