1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



571 



worthy of note in this connection is 

 the fact that plants of this genus are 

 among the few Leguminosae the seeds 

 of which are provided at maturity with 

 an endosperm, and are therefore de- 

 scribed in most systematic works as 

 albuminous. This endosperm is re- 

 duced, in the ripened seed, to two 

 horny, translucent layers parallel to 

 the cotyledons, joined together by a 

 small piece which forms a collar about 

 the caulicle. 



From the physiological point of 

 view the green branches of plants in 

 which the leaves are very much re- 

 duced, or absent, are so much leaf 

 surface, just as in the cactus, which is 

 entirely devoid of functional leaves, 

 the green tissue supplies their want. 

 Therefore we may regard the green 

 bark of the palo verde as so much leaf 

 surface. A transverse section cut 

 through one of these twigs shows a 

 highly organized system of green cells, 



having an arrangement quite . similar 

 to that found in the leaves of many 

 plants exposed to strong sunlight, as 

 they are in the desert. The stomata 

 are similar in type to those of many 

 cacti, being immersed below the sur- 

 face, each at the bottom of a pit. Al- 

 though the twigs are slender and eas- 

 ily bent and so give readily to the 

 wind, they are nevertheless very strong 

 and tough, almost like strands of 

 leather. This is accounted for by the 

 presence of so-called bast, which in 

 this plant is peculiar in that it tra- 

 verses the pith longitudinally. This, 

 however, is supplemented by similar 

 strands found in the rind. 



All three species are well worthy of 

 cultivation, although I believe that the 

 long-leaved species is the only one 

 which has thus far been introduced 

 into cutivation and is known through- 

 out the most of the warm regions of 

 the earth. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY HONORED 



ABROAD 



Forest Service Becomes a Member of the Interna- 

 tional Association of Forest Experiment Stations 



TTHE Forest Service of the United 

 * States Government is to become 

 a member of the International Asso- 

 ciation jf Forest Experiment Stations. 

 Other countries represented in the as- 

 sociation are Germany, Austria, France, 

 Italy, Russia, and Switzerland the 

 leading countries in the practise of 

 scientific forestry. The purpose of the 

 association is to standardize experi- 

 mental work generally, so that the 

 methods of investigation in each coun- 

 try will be uniform, and to collaborate 

 in researches affecting two or more of 

 the countries interested. 



That the Forest Service should be 

 able to enter this association on equal 

 terms with the European countries 

 through whose researches, conducted 

 for many years, a science of forestry 



has been built up is evidence of the 

 rapid progress we are making in this 

 science. Material development and 

 the practical problems which it has 

 presented have absorbed most of our 

 energies, and our contribution to the 

 world's progress along scientific lines 

 has been in the field of invention and 

 applied science rather than in discov- 

 ery and research. 



The science of forestry has until 

 very lately been altogether foreign to 

 us. It is hardly ten years since the 

 first attempt to introduce scientific for- 

 estry upon American soil was made, 

 and the opening of the Cornell School 

 of Forestry in 1898 was a pioneer step 

 in American education. Nor was it 

 possible in this field to import a devel- 

 oped science and start abreast of Euro- 



