288 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



Jun 



lowed perfect freedom an endless 

 variety of idioms, so to speak, is 

 found", and, by the same analogy, 

 changing moods and tenses give ex- 

 pression to the character of the for- 

 est and reveal its capabilities. 



It is true that the artificial forest 

 sometimes teaches us silvical truths 

 that are hidden or unobservable in the 

 natural forest. It is also true that in 

 our own forests, where the accidents 

 of civilization have often interfered 

 rudely and suddenly with a natural 

 development, new and valuable infor- 

 mation is sometimes presented in the 

 most emphatic and striking manner. 

 But such lessons have a restricted 

 meaning when compared with the sub- 

 tle teachings of the purely virgin for- 

 est, because they are based on sudden 

 and drastic changes, which interfere 

 with the operation of other forces and 

 which it is often undesirable or impos- 

 sible to repeat in practice. On the 

 other hand, the life history of the vir- 

 gin forest is more logical and con- 

 nected and, although in many things 

 inscrutable and difficult of interpre- 

 tation, it yields the richest suggestions 

 to careful investigation. 



Such considerations have made it 

 appear to me that it might be of much 

 practical value in the development of 

 future systems of forest management, 

 if selected areas of purely virgin for- 

 est could be maintained in that con- 

 dition for purposes of study and com- 

 parison. These would, in addition, 

 be of general scientific and historic 

 interest and would be most welcome 

 to students of nature, as well as to 

 lovers of landscape and to all those 

 who appreciate the quiet, wild places 

 of the earth. 



It may possibly be objected that we 

 already possess extensive reserves of 

 this kind in our national parks ; but 

 the purpose of these is entirely differ- 

 ent. Most of the national parks were 

 established to preserve some natural 

 wonder of geologic or botanic inter- 

 est, or to commemorate some import- 

 ant event in our national history. They 

 do not illustrate with any completness 



the striking relations between fores 

 growth and geologic formation, alti 

 tude, latitude, rainfall, and other geo 

 graphic and climatic factors. Or i 

 may be thought that the selection o 

 truly representative areas for difreren 

 regions would be difficult, if not im 

 possible, on account of the rare occur 

 rence of purely virgin tracts, entirel 

 unchanged by fire, grazing, or othe 

 human interferences. To this it ma 

 be answered that absolutely primitiv 

 conditions would hardly be necessary 

 it would be sufficient for practical pur. 

 poses if the reserved areas clearly rep 

 resented distinct types of forest an 

 a reasonably close approximation t 

 virgin conditions. By carefully prc 

 tecting such areas they might soon b 

 led back to a perfectly natural statt 



It is not my purpose to enter hit 

 details here regarding the necessar 

 number or the proper sizes of thes 

 local or regional forest type reserve 

 tions, but it is evident that they shoul 

 be so chosen and delimited as to cor 

 stitute in each case an individual an 

 unified whole ; as, for example, a di; 

 tinct section of some valley, a mine 

 watershed, or a small basin. The 

 should also be so situated as to leu 

 themselves to some practical, efficiei 

 system of protection. 



If there is practical value in tl 

 foregoing suggestion it would seei 

 desirable to make an early segreg; 

 tion of such tracts ; not because thei 

 is an immediate necessity for then 

 but because propositions of this n; 

 ture, if they do not receive early a 

 tention, are less likely to be considers 

 in the urgency of later work. 



Let me call attention to the sesthet 

 value that would belong to such rese 

 vations and the interest that the 

 would have for future generation 

 as examples of the genuine, unaltert 

 expressions of nature. In them migl 

 be preserved the expressive forn 

 of many kinds of trees, the manifo 

 beauties of foliage and branches, tl 

 characteristic groupings in the natur 

 forest, and its peculiar lights ar 

 shadows. Large old trees, strikir 



