2O6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



man is more successful in his own work 

 than the other probably could be. 



The forest work done in this country 

 has gone far enough to show the neces- 

 sity for an American system of forestry 

 based upon sound principles and thor- 

 ough knowledge of their local appli- 

 cation. Forestry in America differs* 

 from forestry in Europe in details and 

 policy, just as does forestry in India. 

 European forests are rich in suggestion 

 for American foresters, but the effort 

 must be to build up an American for- 

 estry in harmony with American condi- 

 tions, rather than to apply, under these 

 conditions, a form of forestry which is 

 the direct result of local factors funda- 

 mentally different. 



The United States is not only a virgin 

 field to the forester, but also an ex- 

 tremely difficult one. 



It is impossible here, as might happen 

 under a strongly centralized govern- 

 ment such as Germany has, to remedy 

 the faults of our forest policy promptly 



* The American work which most closely ap- 

 proaches the European idea of forestry is the 

 preparation of plans for management of wood- 

 lots. 



and efficiently by law. Our President 

 deplores the injury that is constantly 

 being done to the national interests, but 

 can not prevail against individual selfish- 

 ness and ignorance, provided there is 

 enough of it to block the ways in Con- 

 gress. 



The great extent of the country mul- 

 tiplies the difficulties, both on account of 

 the enormous area and the variety of 

 climates to be found. Each region has 

 its own peculiarities of timber and 

 growth resulting from myriad combina- 

 tions of latitude, altitude, and rainfall, 

 varying from tropical to arctic, from the 

 line of eternal snows to points below sea- 

 level, and from practically no precipita- 

 tion to more than 100 inches annually. 

 Counting in the Philippines, the total 

 list of woody species amounts to more 

 than 1,200, of which at least 135 are 

 merchantable. 



Naturally the study of such a mass 

 of material and the establishment of 

 scientific treatment of merchantable 

 forests on such a territory can only be 

 attempted by some such organization 

 as the Bureau of Forestry. There are 

 two such bureaus one in the Philip- 





INITIATING A NEW MAN. SOUTH DAKOTA. 



