I94 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



361 



dry even for the briefest period. After 

 twelve years they become, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, large enough to be ' 

 "worked" for resin, which they con- 

 tinue to yield for thirty years, and are 

 then cut for timber. 



The lesson of this wonderful one hun- 



dred years of experiment is not restricted 

 to reforestation by means of the mari- 

 time pine alone, but extends to all woods 

 used for that purpose, and is that the 

 conditions of the natural habitat must 

 in all cases be observed in order to 

 secure success. 



FORESTS OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



FOREST DESTRUCTION A MENACE TO PROSPER- 

 ITYCATTLE VERSUS WATER WHAT THE GOV- 

 ERNMENT IS DOING TO BETTER CONDITIONS. 



IN the Hawaiian Islands it is now rec- 

 ognized that forest preservation is 

 a matter of great and immediate impor- 

 tance to the leading economic interests 

 of the territory. The chief agricultural 

 interest of the islands is sugar-growing. 

 In 1903 the exported sugar was valued 

 at $25,310,684, or 96 per cent of the 

 total exports. The supply of water on 

 which successful cane cultivation de- 

 pends comes to a large extent from the 

 forested higher slopes of the mountains 

 above the plantations. But the situa- 



tion is complicated by the fact that 

 cattle-raising, which in economic im- 

 portance stands second only to the sugar 

 industry, depends largely on the use of 

 the forest for range, and overgrazing 

 has been the principal cause of injury to 

 the water-holding power of the wooded 

 area. 



As a preliminary to the formulation 

 of a far-sighted policy in the interest of 

 the islands as a whole, the territory a 

 year ago asked for an examination of 

 the whole question on the ground by 



IE-IE VINE IN I,EHUA FOREST. 



