1006 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



369 



"Where trees and shrubs are grow- 

 ing vigorously little or no water is re- 

 quired, but where they are starting 

 slowly, then the ground about the roots 

 is well water soaked about once a 

 week in dry weather. About the tree 

 holes are punched to the depth of the 

 roots, and these holes are repeatedly 

 filled in succession until the ground is 

 soaked. A light daily sprinkling is 

 often worse than useless, as it causes 

 the surface to bake hard a condition 

 more favorable to rapid evaporation 

 of moisture than is a mluched or loose- 

 ly dug surface. 



"Trees and shrubs were either not 

 trimmed at all or the tops were re- 

 duced by removal of whole branches 



instead of by cutting off the ends of 

 branches and leaving unsightly stubs. 

 The plants were thus not mutilated in 

 appearance, and where well rooted and 

 vigorous started at once into good 

 growth, as have most of the shrubs. 

 The trees are more closely watched, 

 and where they show a tendency to 

 start into more vigorous growth part 

 the way down the branch they are 

 trimmed back to this point. 



"Insect enemies must also be watched 

 for, as they are likely to spread rapidly 

 and do serious injury, so an equipment 

 for spraying must be ready at hand for 

 such an emergency. Raising trees and 

 shrubs, like raising children, require 

 constant care." 



THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 



Good Progress Being Made on One of the 

 Most Difficult of the Government Projects 



T 



HE ENGINEER in charge of 

 work on the Gunnison tunnel, 

 Uncompahgre irrigation project, 

 Colo., reports that 718 feet were exca- 

 vated during July, making the total 

 amount of tunnel excavated to date 

 14,614 linear feet. Less headway was 

 made in July than in previous months 

 on account of the friable material en- 

 countered in heading No. 2, the acci- 

 dent by a premature explosion in head- 

 ing No. 1, and the quantity of water 

 flowing in at the latter heading. 



Headings 3 and 4 have finally been 

 brought together, and the most dis- 

 agreeable part of the work is now over. 

 This is the portion under the broad 

 valley of Cedar Creek, where the tun- 

 nel has been for nearly a mile in river 

 sands and gravels, clay and soft shale. 

 Heading No. 4 was driven from the 

 outlet in the valley, and number 3 

 from a shaft a mile away, under con- 

 ditions such that it was very difficult 

 to give directions so that the tunnels 

 driven towards each other would ex- 

 actly meet. 



The completion of this portion of 

 the work leaves it possible to concen- 

 trate work on the headings numbers 

 1 and 2, which are under the main por- 

 .tion of the mountain. In No. 1 the 

 material is a hard reddish quartz or 

 coarse granite, changing to a mica 

 shist. In this portion the progress 

 has been upwards of 12 feet a day, 

 while in the softer black shale in head- 

 ing No. 2 the progress has been over 

 20 feet a day. 



The work on the tunnel was delayed 

 by a curious condition. This was due 

 to a heading advanced to a point where 

 is was passing through a great ac- 

 mumulation of sea shells. Thousands 

 upon thousands of them imbedded in 

 the rock were dug out, some of them 

 of gigantic size upwards of three 

 feet or even more in diameter. 



The process of excavating the shells 

 was easy but they rendered the ground 

 exceedingly treacherous. A few of 

 these large shells imbedded in the roof 

 make a point of weakness, and without 

 warning a mass of a hundred pounds 



