1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



297 



supposes a far more thorough knowl- 

 edge of ecology than has been attained 

 so far. For investigations of this kind 

 the reserve sample plots suggested by 

 Mr. Schwartz would serve excellently. 

 The field study of ecology is at the 

 present time handicapped by the fact 

 that there are no accurate records of 

 observations regarding changes in the 

 flora of definite areas, extended over 

 considerable periods of time. Such 

 records cannot be obtained under ordi- 

 nary conditions, because the factor of 

 human interference cannot be suffi- 

 ciently eliminated. If every forest re- 

 serve had one or more districts of rea- 

 sonable size set apart and protected 

 against all human disturbance, these 

 would go far in helping to discover 

 the laws by which natural conditions 

 affect tree growth. 



Perhaps it would be feasible for the 

 Forest Service to enlist the coopera- 

 tion of the botanical departments of 

 the various universities in this work. 

 A great deal of geological field work is 

 now being done by botanists. There 

 is reason to believe that they would 

 welcome such a policy, especially if in 

 the neighborhood of each protected 

 tract a simple laboratory containing 

 facilities for the most indispensable 

 physiological and morphological work 

 could be erected. 



ERNEST BRUNCKEN. 



Sacramento, Cal. 



An apt illustration of the 

 relation between forests 

 and the conservation of 

 water is shown in a recent letter by 

 Clinton Harris, of Nashville, Tenn., 

 printed in Recreation. The letter is as 

 follows : 



"To illustrate the relationship be- 

 tween forests and water, make a cou- 

 ple of troughs, line one with clay to 

 represent the country denuded of trees, 

 the opposite trough line with sods 

 of grass or moss to represent the for- 

 est-clad mountain side, set them on an 

 incline and connect their upper ends 

 with a rough reservoir. Pour a pail 

 of water into this reservoir and there 

 will be a wild rush of water down the 



Forests 

 and Water 



clay-lined trough, while the moss and 

 grass-lined one will drip for hours. 



"It only needs a little imagination to 

 convert this machine into a forest-clad 

 mountain and one denuded of timber. 



"The cloudburst represented by the 

 contents of the bucket of water sud- 

 denly poured into the top reservoir is 

 only a dangerous cloudburst on the 

 barren slope. By the use of this sim- 

 ple device you can explain to a child 

 the absolute necessity of preserving the 

 forests upon the watersheds, if we 

 would have continuous running water 

 and not the certainty of flood and 

 drought which are caused by the wa- 

 tersheps being recklessly denuded of 

 timber." 



The Forest Service dur- 



Workof ing the summer field 



Forest Service ,, i 



season issues monthly a 



schedule of field work and assign- 

 ments. The programme for July in- 

 dicates work in 21 states and territo- 

 ries and in Hawaii. It includes the 

 making of working plans and plant- 

 ing plans, fire protection studies, the 

 care of forest nurseries, inspection of 

 forest reserves, special studies of trees 

 and their products, timber seasoning 

 and testing, and many other practical 

 lines of work in which the Forest Ser- 

 vice is engaged. The names, address- 

 es, and character of study of all For- 

 est Service officials engaged in this 

 work and also of those having direct 

 charge of the different forest reserves 

 will be published monthly in the field 

 programme. In another part of this 

 number of FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 

 the work of the Forest Service is treat- 

 ed somewhat in detail. 



A new section called 

 "lumber trade" was cre- 

 ated by the Forest Ser- 

 vice luly i. in the office of Forest 

 Products. Its purpose is to study the 

 supply, transportation, markets, and 

 use of lumber and other forest pro- 

 ducts. The various grading specifica- 

 tions will be brought together for 

 comparison by both buyers and sellers 

 of lumber, as has been done in the 

 case of log rules. Hitherto there has 



Studying 



Lumber 



Trade 



