518 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



on a 40-acre farm, and this is rarely 

 done where outside range or other pas- 

 ture is not available. At present large 

 cattle and sheep companies control 

 most of the range. Thus, with his 

 hay crop as his principal asset and the 

 necessity for prompt sale at the end of 

 the crop year, the forty-acre farmer is 

 very much at the mercy of the stock 

 man of large interests. This condition 

 is very likely to confront the farmer 

 during his first four or five years when 

 he is limited to one crop and when his 

 struggle is the hardest and ready mon- 

 ey is most needed. 



The agriculture of such projects 

 will some day be entirely changed, and 

 in all probability sugar beet and fruit 

 growing may become important, and 

 make 40 acres or smaller farms desir- 

 able. Until that time comes, condi- 

 tions as they exist must be dealt with, 

 as it is not possible to change in a short 

 time the kind of agriculture being car- 

 ried on in any district. Fruit growing 

 cannot be made successful in a valley 

 where the stock business is predomi- 

 nant, nor can dairying be carried on in 

 a region where fruit growing has been 

 the principal industry for a long time. 

 These changes are, of course, possible, 

 and will in many cases take place ; but 

 the process is a slow one. 



The critical period in the history of 



each irrigation scheme comes in the 

 early years of its operation. Failures 

 by farmers are then common, and 

 there is no ground for believing that 

 farmers taking land under govern- 

 ment projects will be abler than those 

 who have heretofore inhabited the 

 West. During the first years meth- 

 ods of agriculture will be crude, low- 

 priced products will be produced, and 

 in consequence a larger area of land 

 will be needed for the support of a 

 family than later in the history of the 

 region. These first few years are 

 going to be the critical ones. If the 

 farm units are made too small and 

 the settlers are unable to pay the 

 charges for the water and the lands, 

 not only will future work be hampered 

 because the money has not been re- 

 turned to the Reclamation Fund, but 

 the main purpose of the law, the set- 

 tlement of the West, will be prevented. 

 Instead of prosperous farms and a 

 contented settlement, there will be seen 

 dismal abandoned homesteads elo- 

 quent of failure and despair. In a 

 district where fruit growing will be 

 the principal crop the unit may safely 

 be limited to 40 acres, but under the 

 projects that are removed from estab- 

 lished markets and from centers of 

 population the best policy will proba- 

 blv be to make the farm unit 80 acres. 



FORESTRY IN NEW JERSEY 



BY 



DR. JOHN GIFFORD 



Vice President of the American Forestry Association for New Jersey. 



DROGRESS in forestry in the State 

 of New Jersey has been slow but 

 gradual. Although the subject has 

 been agitated in various ways for 

 many years, nothing very tangible was 

 ever accomplished. This tardiness was 

 due to various causes. First, in spite 

 of the activities in the nearby States of 

 New York and Pennsylvania the New 

 Jersey legislatures, although not hos- 



tile, were merely lukewarm on the 

 subject, and although they passed bills 

 from time to time they never appro- 

 priated sufficient money for their en- 

 forcement. Although the State of New 

 Jersey has had, and still has barrels 

 of money in its treasury, much of 

 which is secured from corporations 

 and none of which is wrung from the 

 tillers of the soil, it has been loathe 



