346 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



August 



crops the soil moisture necessary to 

 keep them thrifty during dry, windy 

 times. These facts are especially per- 

 tinent in a treeless, level agricultural 

 country, where the wind has an unob- 

 structed sweep for miles and gets con- 

 stantly drier in its course. The strips 

 of land that farmers in Illinois might 

 divert from agriculture in creating 

 shelterbelts would be put to better use 

 than if continued in crops, because the 

 remainder of the land would be so much 

 benefited by the change. Nor is pro- 

 tection from the effects of wind the only 

 advantage that would be secured from 

 the creation of shelterbelts. If com- 

 posed of suitable kinds of trees, shelter- 

 belts can be made to answer the purpose 

 of valuable woodlots, furnishing all the 

 fuel, fence posts, and farm-repair mate- 

 rial the farmer may need. The two uses 

 will admirably go hand in hand, and 

 between them will materially improve 

 the value of the land and the comfort 

 of the farmer. 



To promote this end the Bureau of 

 Forestry has assigned to Illinois for this 

 summer a field party of five experts, 

 under the supervision of Mr. R. S. Kel- 

 logg. They will study both native and 

 planted trees to gain a full understand- 

 ing of the rate of growth and reproduct- 

 ive powers of the trees which are the 

 most valuable for the state. Data will 

 be collected relative to the cost and 

 methods of planting and the time re- 

 quired to growtimber to the size required 

 for usefulness. When the study is com- 

 pleted a full report on the subject will 

 be published. 



Geographic The Eighth Interna- 

 Congress. tional Geographic Con- 



gress will be held in this 

 country next September. The Com- 

 mittee of Arrangements has invited all 

 bureaus of the government that are 

 concerned with geographic work to ap- 

 point representatives at this Congress. 

 The subjects for treatment and dis- 

 cussion at this Congress may be classi- 

 fied as follows: Physical geography, 

 including geomorphology, meteorology, 

 hydrology, etc. ; mathematical geog- 

 raphy, including geodesy and geophys- 



ics ; biogeography, including botany 

 and zoology in their geographic aspects ; 

 anthropogeography, including ethnol- 

 ogy ; descriptive geography, including 

 explorations and surveys ; geographic 

 technology, including cartography, bib- 

 liography, etc. ; commercial and indus- 

 trial geography ; history of geography ; 

 and geographic education. 



A special opportunity will be afforded 

 for the discussion of methods of survey- 

 ing and map-making and for the com- 

 parison of these methods as pursued in 

 other countries with the work of the 

 federal and state surveys maintained in 

 this country. 



The National Geographic Society of 

 Washington. D. C., as the organization 

 responsible for the management of the 

 sessions in the United States, will play 

 the part of host and welcome the Con- 

 gress, on September 8, to its new home, 

 the Hubbard Memorial Hall, on Six- 

 teenth street, in Washington. Sessions 

 will be held there on September 9 and 

 10. Leaving Washington on the i2th, 

 the members, associates, and guests of 

 the Congress will be entertained during 

 that day by the Geographical Society 

 of Philadelphia, and on the i3th, i4th, 

 and 1 5th by the American Geographical 

 Society in New York, where scientific 

 sessions will be held. On the i6th they 

 will have the opportunity of visiting 

 Niagara Falls, and on the tjth will be 

 entertained by the Geographic Society 

 of Chicago. On the igth and 2oth they 

 will be invited to participate in the In- 

 ternational Congress of Arts and Science 

 connected with the World's Fair, in St. 

 Louis. If there is sufficient demand, a 

 Far- West excursion will be provided 

 from St. Louis to the city of Mexico, 

 Sante Fe, the Grand Canyon of the 

 Colorado, San Francisco, and the Golden 

 Gate, with a return by any preferred 

 route through the Rocky Mountains 

 and the interior plains to eastern ports. 



San Francisco 

 Reserve. 



A study of forestry 

 seems to be especially 

 esteemed in countries 

 where there are no longer forests to 

 study. I n furtherance of this work, the 

 United States Geological Survey has just 



