496 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



to the timber baron methods in the re- 

 serves as he is outside of them ? 



Let us hope that the Forest Service 

 will use its best efforts in protecting 

 us from this new danger, and that, be- 

 fore all the vacant lands now in re- 

 serves shall have been similarly filed 

 upon, means will be devised to correct 

 this evil. There is obviously a great 

 necessity for more stringent laws, or 

 of stronger regulations by the Forest 

 Service, relating to mining locations in 

 the reserves. 



One of our most serious considera- 

 tions in the matter of forest protec- 

 tion is that of fire, which annually 

 consumes more timber than all other 

 causes combined. Some of the states 

 have passed laws relating to the pun- 

 ishment of persons setting fires or al- 

 lowing the same to get beyond control, 

 but it is quite evident that these laws 

 are not enforced or that they are not 

 sufficiently stringent to prevent the re- 

 currence of the annual fires. 



In my opinion, the attention of the 

 different state legislatures should be 

 directed to the necessity for the enact- 

 ment of rigorous laws, or to the en- 

 forcement of their present laws con- 

 cerning the setting of forest fires. 



In considering the various subjects 

 relating to forest protection of which 

 I have spoken, I trust that my state- 

 ments, if they meet with the approval 

 of the Mining Congress, as well as 

 any others which may be suggested 

 looking toward the improvement of 

 conditions which will benefit the miner, 

 will be so firmly placed before the 

 state and government officials that 

 proper legislation and regulations will 

 be enacted. Otherwise, if we procras- 

 tinate, and are not granted fuller pro- 

 tection, we shall some day awaken to 

 the fact that we are endeavoring to 

 run our quartz mills with an empty 

 ore bin. 



FOREST MENSURATION 



Review of Professor Graves' Excel- 

 lent New Text Book for Foresters 



f N his "Forest Mensuration," the 

 first text book written for Ameri- 

 can foresters, Prof. Graves has set a 

 high standard and produced a book 

 valuable in itself and valuable as an 

 index of what is required in the books 

 that are so greatly needed on other 

 branches of forestry. Whoever shall 

 undertake to write a Silviculture, a 

 Forest Management, a Forest Utiliza- 

 tion, must be prepared to have his 

 work judged, in some degree, by this. 

 One is therefore glad that the litera- 

 ture of American technical forestry is 

 so well begun. 



"Forest Mensuration" deals with the 

 determination of the volume of logs, 

 trees, and stands, and with the study 

 of increment and yield. Under this 

 definition a discussion of log rules is 

 given first place and 48 pages devoted 



to them. This is unquestionably neces- 

 sary, though the fact itself shows how 

 foolish we are to continue the use of 

 a multiplicity of board measure rules, 

 none of which are right, instead of 

 adopting the simple cubic foot unit. 

 Cannot the forest schools, or the For- 

 est Service do something to establish 

 it and gradually do away with all the 

 board measure rules? Foresters and 

 lumbermen are devoting a great deal 

 of time to the problem of a "rational" 

 board measure rule ; the same effort 

 expended in another direction would 

 go far towards getting rid of the dif- 

 ficulty entirely. 



When it comes to the measurement 

 of trees for the purpose of determin- 

 ing their rate of growth, cubic meas- 

 ure must be resorted to, and Professor 

 Graves discusses fully the various 



* Published by John Wi'ey & Sons, New York. 



