1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



555 



seed potatoes obtained from the Red 

 River country of the North, having 

 learned that imported seed stock yields 

 vastly greater results, and especially 

 the Red River potato. 



This is but an instance of the appli- 

 cation of scientific methods in agricul- 

 ture and shows what schools of agri- 

 culture and farmers institutes are do- 

 ing for our country. An interesting 

 sight is carloads of potatoes shipped 

 out for the market and other carloads 

 shipped in for planting, and all han- 

 dled on the same day. 



A little story is told of potato cul- 

 ture which also illustrates scientific 

 methods. It is of a progressive farm- 

 er who proposed to plant potatoes on 

 non-irrigable land, but who expected 

 to provide moisture by planting onions 

 along with them, so as to make the 

 potatoes' eyes water. As to results we 

 cannot vouch, but it is true that irri- 

 gated onions have proved a wonderful 



success when the market offered rea- 

 sonable prices. 



In addition to this latter crop, irri- 

 gation yields vast returns in sugar- 

 beet culture. A sugar-beet factory site 

 is now surveyed and considerable land 

 is owned by a wealthy company. Small 

 fruits and vegetables are natural crops 

 for irrigated land and already many 

 acres of strawberries are under cultiva- 

 tion and will be yielding large returns 

 within one or two years at the most. 



Irrigation in this valley, set apart by 

 itself, is practically in the same state 

 of development as all other like irri- 

 gation regions just at the beginning 

 of great possibilities. It means that 

 that vast region of what is commonly 

 known as the "great arid West" is just 

 waiting the application of American 

 industry, brain, and brawn to trans- 

 form it into wide reaches of beautiful 

 farms and gardens, surrounding hap- 

 py homes. 



FORESTRY IN MARYLAND 



BY 

 WILLIAM BULLOCK CLARK 



State Geologist of Maryland. 



|W[ ARYLAND has done little hither- 

 *** to to protect her forest interests. 

 By an early statute the malicious set- 

 ting on fire of any woods is punish- 

 able by a fine in a few counties, but as 

 no special provision is made to enforce 

 it the law affords inadequate protec- 

 tion and can never completely control 

 the evil. At the last session of the 

 general assembly a general law was 

 introduced, but received little support 

 from the state's representatives. With 

 the passage of progressive legislation 

 elsewhere and the recognition on the 

 part of many intelligent citizens that 

 the state's forest wealth is being rapid- 

 ly depleted, there is evidence at the 

 present time of a more aroused public 

 interest than in the past, and the day 

 ; .is not far off when Maryland will take 



her place with the other states in 

 placing adequate forest laws on her 

 statute books. It is coming to be real- 

 ized that not only should the remnants 

 of our present forests be preserved, 

 but intelligent treatment should be 

 given to the large deforested areas 

 that cannot in all probability be made 

 available for any other purposes. An 

 educational campaign is under wax- 

 that is adding many recruits to the 

 forestry movement. 



While Maryland has been thus 

 backward in passing adequate laws to 

 conserve its forest wealth, systematic 

 investigations of its forest conditions 

 have been under way for the past six 

 or seven years. In 1896 the state 

 made provision for tin- establishmentof 

 a State Geological and Economic Sur- 



