290 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



system. The Appalachian system is 

 now the best hard-wood producing re- 

 gion in the Union, possibly in the 

 world. It can furnish cottages and 

 palaces for the nations. The active 

 spread of railroads is carrying de- 

 struction into the heart of these for- 

 ests, and all the growth, from sapling 

 to trees of mature age, without respect 

 to "color, age or previous condition" 

 are cut. At the present rate of de- 

 struction, without means of reproduc- 

 tion, the price of timber for commerce 

 will soon be prohibitive. 



(b) In all mountain countries a de- 

 struction of the forest has been a de- 

 struction of the country. "After the 

 timber the flood." The soil hardens 

 like a slate roof and the water runs 

 off. It is the amount of water which 

 enters the soil, not the precipitation, 

 which makes a region a garden or a 

 desert. The soil is destroyed, the 

 streams dwindle to nothing or at times 

 are irresistible torrents, spreading de- 

 vastation and terror along their 



courses. The land under considera- 

 tion is said to be valuable as forest 

 lands only. It lies at the sources of 

 interstate rivers and its preservation 

 as a forest region is of untold and in- 

 estimable value to the countries be- 

 low. 



(c) In a denuded country the 

 streams are yellow, the soil carried to 

 the sea, navigation impeded thereby, 

 water power imperilled, food fish and 

 other aquatic life killed, and scenic 

 beauty destroyed. 



The above applies not only to this 

 State, but with equal force to the other 

 States concerned. Nearly every Gov- 

 ernor's message of recent years has 

 directed attention to this important 

 matter ; and our recent Tax Commis- 

 sion, an able body, went beyond its 

 legitimate scope to urge attention to 

 it. 



Respectfully, 



WM. M. O. DAWSON, 

 Governor of West Virginia. 



SPRING FIELD WORK OF THE SENIOR 

 CLASS OF THE YALE FOREST 



SCHOOL 



BY 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 



""HE senior class of the Yale Forest 

 School, seventeen in number, 

 spent the spring term at "Waterville, 

 X. II., upon the tract of 22,000 acres 

 owned by the International Paper Co. 

 This valley contains one of the largest 

 bodies of virgin spruce remaining in 

 New Hampshire. The slopes of the 

 surrounding mountains are still cov- 

 ered with dense stands of timber, al- 

 though most of the lower slopes have 

 been logged. 



The conditions are ideal for train- 

 ing in the practice of map making, 

 and timber cruising and along these 

 lines the work was organized. The 

 School was fortunate in securing: Mr. 



Henry Gannett, Chief Topographer of 

 the U. S. Geological Survey, to di- 

 rect the construction of a topographi- 

 cal map of the Waterville valley. A 

 scale of 2,000 feet to 1 inch was used, 

 with contour lines at 100 feet inter- 

 vals. Primary points were located 

 from a base line with the plane table, 

 and transverses run along roads, 

 streams and trails, using steel tapes 

 and aneroids. From the data thus ob- 

 tained the contours were sketched in. 

 Each man completed this portion of 

 the work independently. 



Practice in estimating was taken up 

 systematically upon a tract of 40 acres 

 on which all the spruce were first cal- 



