522 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



Many of these waste places of Europe 

 were improved by monks who, with 

 religious zeal, were eager to do pen- 

 ance by working in the most inhospi- 

 table regions. 



In the northern part of the state 

 there is some land which the commis- 

 sion will avoid. It consists of bare 

 rock with here and there patches of 

 thin soil. 



In buying land bearing a good 

 young growth of desirable species, the 

 cost of planting, which is often more 

 than the land is worth, is avoided. It 

 will soon also yield materials from im- 

 provement cuttings which can be sold. 



The question often arises does it 

 pay to fight fire in regions where there 

 is nothing but scurb-oaks and a few 

 scattering pitch pines? -If no other 

 and better timber is endangered, and 

 if the owner is a Philadelphia land- 

 speculator, who can blame the poor 

 native who depends on huckleberries 

 for complacently letting it run? 



In _ New Jersey, as elsewhere, the 

 success of these reservations will de- 

 pend mainly on two points. The first 

 is the personal element which means 

 success or failure to any enterprise. 

 Just as some men will make a farm 

 pay where others have failed, so will 



some men make reservations pay 

 where others will fail. There are other 

 factors to be counted but by far the 

 most important is the man behind it. 



The second factor is perpetuity with- 

 out constant change. Will the legisla- 

 ture and the powers that be let the 

 good work go on without meddling 

 and change? If there is any one thing 

 essential to forestry it is a well con- 

 ceived plan covering not ten years, or 

 twenty-five, but many years. The 

 change of men is not so serious if they 

 are all able and honest, but the plan 

 of procedure must be lasting. In the 

 change of men, however, one dishon- 

 est or incapable man may undo the 

 work of years in a very short time. 

 The personnel of the present commis- 

 sion, and the plan they are working 

 on, are all right. Let us hope that 

 nothing may interfere to bring it to 

 an untimely end, but it will require 

 patience and skill to guide it in the 

 straight and proper course in the years 

 to come. While Governor Stokes is 

 in power, the good work will go on 

 in the proper way, but there will be 

 other governors, and governors are 

 not always up-to-date on the subject 

 of forestry or immune to ulterior in- 

 fluences. 



GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS 



Great Need of Care on Part of Contractors 

 Who Undertake Building Huge Irrigation Works. 



There seems to be a peculiar fasci- 

 nation about a government contract 

 and a widespread belief that a person 

 who secures a contract from the gov- 

 ernment is certain of large profits and 

 easy work. As a result, there are 

 many inexperienced persons who are 

 continually seeking contracts and who, 

 out of their ignorance, frequently suc- 

 ceed in getting into very embarrassing 

 situations. There is nothing more irri- 

 tating than the effort of inexperienced 

 persons to try to get a contract, and if 

 by chance it is awarded to them, they 

 seek not to execute work as required, 



but to shirk the obligation incurred. 



The Reclamation Service, having a 

 new class of work, has been put to 

 much trouble and expense by inexperi- 

 enced or speculative individuals who 

 have, in some cases, made bids ridicu- 

 lously low and have insisted on having 

 the contract awarded to them in spite 

 of the warning of skilled men that they 

 would incur large losses in carrying 

 out the work specified. These people 

 do not and will not understand that 

 the contracts they enter into are very 

 carefully guarded, and that no discre- 

 tion or leniency is possible after the 





and. 



