238 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



of 1904. All the jack pine seedlings 

 were winter-killed, while some 40 to 

 50 plants of red pine came through the 

 winter without injury, and during the 

 summer of 1904 made a growth rang- 

 ing from C> to 14 inches in height at 



the close of the season. From this 

 example, the vigor of these plants 

 would indicate that the red pine may 

 be a good tree for planting on the sand 

 hills of Nebraska and the adjacent 

 regions. 



RELATION OF THE LAW TO UNDER- 

 GROUND WATERS 



A REPORT of great practical val- 

 * ue called "Reclamation of 

 the Law to Underground Waters," 

 by Mr. Douglas Wilson Johnson, has 

 just been published by the United 

 States Geological Survey.. It is the 

 first comprehensive paper prepared in 

 this country on the relation of the 

 law to underground waters, and was 

 complied to meet a considerable de- 

 mand for information on this sub- 

 ject. It is especially pertinent at this 

 time, when active efforts are being 

 made in several States to enact laws 

 governing the use of underground 

 waters which shall take account of the 

 recent advances in the science of h\ - 

 drology and the present knowledge of 

 the occurrence and movements of such 

 waters. The report is in no sense, 

 however, a legal treatise, but rather 

 the result of an endeavor to collect 

 and arrange such legal decisions as 

 will serve to shown the relation of the 

 law to problems which are essentially 

 geological in character. 



Mr. Johnson divides his discussion 

 into two parts. In the first part he 

 assembles the common-law rules con- 

 cerning underground waters ; in the 

 second he rehearses the legislative 

 acts affecting underground waters. 

 He divides undergrounds waters into 

 two classes, those flowing in defined 

 and known channels, and those pass- 

 ing through the ground below the 

 surface, either without definite chan- 

 nels or in courses which are known, 

 and he arranges all the laws relating 



to underground waters as above. 



This report brings into striking- 

 relief the fact that there is a great 

 lack of agreement among authorities 

 on questions pertaining to under- 

 ground waters. This is because there 

 is so much that is uncertain and indef- 

 inite in the behavior of waters hidden 

 beneath the surface. A second and 

 very important reason for the unsati- 

 factorv condition of the law relating 

 to underground waters is found in the 

 fact that the state of our knowledge 

 regarding such waters is now, thanks 

 to the progress of geological science, 

 in advance of the general ruling of 

 the courts on some of the questions 

 involved. Where a decision is con- 

 trolled by opinions rendered in former 

 cases, and not made with due regard 

 to the present knowledge respecting 

 subterranean conditions, it does not 

 seem that a just settlement of the con- 

 troversy can be reached. 



'I here probably must always be 

 cases in which the subterranean con- 

 ditions are indefinite or unknown, but 

 the number of such cases will decrease 

 with advance in geologic knowledge. 

 Tlie lack of agreement among le^al 

 authorities on many of the questions 

 at issue is rather more fortunate thin 

 unfortunate in one respect at least, 

 since it bears witness to the uncertain 

 position of the law on the points 

 involved and opens the way mo,x- 

 readily for new knowledge concerning 

 the problems, and a wiser interpreta- 

 tion of the law. 





