1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



421 



those who are on the borders of it, but 

 the vastly greater number who live- 

 and do business in the country sur- 

 rounding the mountain region. 



From these highlands come the wa- 

 ters that make fruitful the farms and 

 give power to the industries of prac- 

 tically every Southern State east of 

 the Mississippi River. The people of 

 the North and West realize that this 

 question is first of all a local one 

 at any rate that one section of the 

 country is more immediately con- 

 cerned than any of the others. Yet 

 they also see that it is a matter 

 of importance to the entire country, 

 and for this reason are ready to turn 

 in and put their shoulders to the wheel 

 to get this reserve. But they must 

 first be assured that the South is hear- 

 tily in favor of it ; therefore it is di- 

 rectly up to the people and press of 

 the South to head this great work with 

 vigor. 



Furthermore, all that the Adiron- 

 dacks are to New York, the Berkshire 

 Hills to Massachusetts, the White 

 Mountains to New Hampshire, and all 

 of them to the whole country, these 

 southern mountains may be to the 

 states that possess them. The Ameri- 

 can people are developing a love of 

 outdoors that must be satisfied. No 

 region in the United States has the 

 qualities that attract the summer visi- 

 tor and the possibilities of ready ac- 

 cess, that the forested mountains of 

 the South have. Private enterprise is 

 slow in making them known. A great 

 forest reserve there will create a de- 

 mand that every part be opened to 

 travelers. 



So regarding it let us act promptly 

 and wisely. And reason surely points 

 out one way and that is to entrust the 

 management of this magnificent do- 

 main to the wise, liberal, comprehen- 

 sive administration of the general gov- 

 ernment. 



REASONS FOR A NATIONAL FOREST 



RESERVATION IN THE 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 



BY 



PHILIP W. AYRES 



Forester of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. 



'"THE reasons for a National Forest 

 Reservation in the White Moun- 

 tains are of two kinds, economic and 

 oesthetic, of which the economic rea- 

 sons are by far the more weighty and 

 important. 



i. The lumber interests in New 

 England, including the pulp and pa- 

 per plants and the wood-working fac- 

 tories, are second only to agriculture 

 and manufactures in the amount of 

 wages paid and the number of fami- 

 lies supported. Anything that attacks 

 any one of these great interests affects 

 all of the others, and the lumber in- 



terests is easily the most vulnerable be- 

 cause of the easy exhaustion of sup- 

 ply. A forest reservation would steady 

 the towns, mills, and factories whose 

 population is dependent on forest pro- 

 ducts. 



From the complete exhaustion of 

 their primeval white pine forests some 

 years ago, the New England States 

 have suffered severely. The furniture 

 factories and many other wood-work- 

 ing plants have largely disappeared. 

 Such sash-and-door factories as re- 

 main import their pine from Michigan 

 and the West at a price that renders 



