473 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



October 



relating to the disposal of crown lands 

 to settlers. The fruits of this long ex- 

 perience are of unusual significance to 

 us at the present time. As they now 

 stand, the land laws of various of the 

 Australian states present the following 

 sensible features : First. Grazing lands 

 are divided, according to their capacity 

 to carry stock, into as many as four 

 classes, and settlers are permitted to 

 occupy smaller or greater allotments of 

 territory according to its quality. Sec- 

 ond. These lands are occupied under 

 long tenure leases, with renewal priv- 

 ileges, wich give practically permanent 

 control to the stockmen. In addition 

 to the motive thus created to improve 

 their leaseholds, they are also usually 

 required by la\\r to fence and otherwise 

 improve their holdings. Third. The 

 classification of lands and their allot- 

 ment to settlers is done by boards of 

 commissioners acting for the govern- 

 ment, with a view to correct judgment 

 and equitable division of public lands. 



These are the leading features of those 

 laws which have resulted from the bet- 

 ter part of a century of Anglo-Saxon 

 experience in a pastoral country. 



The operation of these laws with ref- 

 erence to the development of pastoral 

 industry is stated to be highly satisfac- 

 tory. Vast areas of semi-desert lands, 

 divided into comparatively small hold- 

 ings, are legally occupied for long terms 

 by stockmen who, prompted both by 

 law and their own best interests, im- 

 prove their holdings. Thus it is that 

 in Australia an immense pastoral coun- 

 try has been fenced, substantial im- 

 provements are installed, provision is 

 made against famine in dry years, ani- 

 mal pests are exterminated, poisonous 

 plants are eradicated, and an era of im- 

 provement has apparently been inaugu- 

 rated directly due to a recognition of the 

 fact that the Anglo-Saxon must have pro- 

 prietary interest in land if he is to be ex- 

 pected to improve its condition. 



In unhappy contrast to the upbuild- 

 ing of pastoral Australia is the reverse 

 process everywhere evident in our own 

 Western States. The spoliation which 

 has resulted inevitably from the lack of 

 laws having for their object a saving 

 administration of the range country has 

 resulted in a gradual but sure decline 



of its carrying capacity. In some dis- 

 tricts, especially where, under stress of 

 overgrazing, the soil is easily eroded 

 by rainfall, this damage can never be 

 repaired ; in others, restriction of graz- 

 ing, reseeding, and other remedial meas- 

 ures may effect a large measure of res- 

 toration. 



As to what these remedial measures 

 shall be in the United States there is, 

 of course, great difference of opinion, 

 influenced in part by the interests of 

 those concerned and in part by igno- 

 rance of the problem itself. 



PRINCIPLES ON WHICH SOUND GRAZING 

 LAND LAWS MUST REST. 



Successful grazing range laws must 

 of necessity rest upon two kinds of 

 knowledge knowledge of the range 

 itself, the forages that it bears, their 

 habits of growth and reproduction, their 

 food value for animals, the classifica- 

 tion of grazing country into different 

 grades, and the carrying capacity and 

 endurance of these different kinds of 

 range. This is a subject the study of 

 which within the past few years has been 

 vigorously entered upon by various 

 economic botanists, especially by cer- 

 tain of the state experiment stations 

 and by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. 



The second sort of knowledge re- 

 quired is that derived from legislative 

 experience in dealing with purely graz- 

 ing lands elsewhere. The results of 

 such experience are to be found in 

 Australia probably more than in any 

 other modern country. 



Australian experience, considered to- 

 gether with the traditions of our own 

 land laws, points to the practicability 

 in the United States of the stockman's 

 homestead or long-term leasehold in 

 pastoral districts. The homestead idea, 

 long tried and well approved in this 

 country, is, briefly, that a settler shall 

 be granted enough territory to afford 

 him a living enough and no more. 



THE MEANING OF THE HOMESTEAD. 



As applied to the Mississippi Valley, 

 a homestead meant 160 acres of land, 

 this area being found in the average 

 instance sufficient for a farming family; 

 but when the tide of immigration pushed 



