NEWS AND NOTES 



243 



ing the forests and other natural resources, 

 it is obvious that but little progress will be 

 made until the women of the country col- 

 lectively take up the work. 



"It is not necessary to enlarge upon the 

 good that may be accomplished by women 

 earnestly banded together for the welfare 

 of the children of this and of future genera- 

 tions. 



"The Woman's National Rivers and Har- 

 bors Congress has the endorsement of Mr. 

 Gifford Pinchot, Chairman National Con- 

 servation Commission and Chief Forester of 

 the United States, who says: 'You are to 

 be congratulated upon your organization of 

 the Woman's National Rivers and Harbors 

 Congress. * * * You have my best wishes 

 for success in the important work you have 

 undertaken.' 



"Knowing the vast value of your assist- 

 ance and the powerful influence for good 

 which may be accomplished by your joining 

 us, I herewith respectfully ask you to ac- 

 cept the office of Second Vice-president of 

 the Woman's National Rivers and Harbors 

 Congress. 



' ' Yours very truly, 



(Signed) ' ' MRS. LYDIA ADAMS-WILLIAMS, 

 "First Vice-president of the Woman* s Na- 



tional Rivers and Harbors Congress, Cor- 



responding Secretary of the Woman's Na- 



tional Press Association, and Chairman of 



the Waterways Committee of the District 



of Columbia Federation of Women's- 



Clubs." 



"1701 K St. N.W., 

 ' ' Washington, D. C, Feb. 28, 1909. 

 "Mrs. Lydia Adams-Williams, Atlantic 

 Building, Washington, D. C. 



"My dear Mrs. Adams-Williams: You 

 and the Woman's National Rivers and 

 Harbors Congress are very good to desire 

 my cooperation, and if I can aid in helping 

 the grand work of conservation of pur for- 

 ests by becoming Second Vice-president of 

 the Congress, I am pleased to accept. 



"I think that the object of your organiza- 

 tion is one highly to be commended, and 

 for the success of which I have every good 

 wish. 



"I thank you for your kind expression 

 toward me, and I think your unselfish devo- 

 tion to the cause is one worthy of all praise. 



"Thanking you for your kindness, I am, 

 "Very cordially yours, 

 (Signed) " CORNELIA C. FAIRBANKS 

 ' ' (Mrs. Charles Warren Fairbanks') . ' ' 



What a Timber Patch Can Do 



' ' Mr. Editor : I would like to hear some- 

 thing on the subject of planting and raising 

 forest trees the best kinds, the best ground 

 for them, and the best way of planting. 

 Here in Nemaha County we have plenty of 

 timber, but it is being destroyed so fast that 

 I fear we shall regret it when it is too late. 

 For thirty years I have owned 160 acres, with 

 some twenty acres of native timber on it. 



[ have had all the poles and posts I needed 

 for the farm all these years, and still have 

 three times the timber there was on the 

 land forty years ago, when I came here 

 That is better than nine-tenths of the farms 

 have done. T. K. MASHITER. 



"Sabetha.Kans." 



The writer has done well. By corre- 

 sponding with The Forester, Washington, 

 D. C, he can doubtless obtain the informa- 

 tion he desires on the planting and raising 

 of forest trees. The Forest Service carries 

 a splendid line of documents intended espe- 

 cially to aid in every way in conserving and 

 renewing the forests of the United States. 



Forest Conservation in Hawaii 



That substantial interest in forestry exists 

 in Hawaii is made clear by the accompany- 

 ii'ig^ editorial from a Honolulu paper : 



'Hawaii has suffered so much from dep- 

 redations on its forests, by animals, fire, and 

 insects, that an active movement to save the 

 watershed trees and increase their number 

 or to create popular interest in saving them 

 is most welcome. While in Washington re- 

 cently, Mrs. A. F. Knudsen, with the per- 

 sonal approbation of the President, took up 

 the matter for Hawaii at the Woman's Na- 

 tional Rivers and Harbors Congress; and 

 she has come back to interest the public, 

 particularly the women, in this work. It 

 is surely a fortunate circumstance. Abund- 

 ant and healthy forests, besides giving these 

 islands half their beauty, are of untold 

 economic importance to their inhabitants. A 

 land denuded of its trees either becomes a 

 desert, or a place which is only practicable 

 for agriculture a part of the year. Spain 

 became impoverished for several reasons, 

 chief among them deforestation; and so, for 

 that matter, did large areas of China. Writers 

 since the time of Strabo have pointed out 

 the peril of forest denudation, many of them 

 contending that large wooded areas actually 

 increase the rainfall. However that may 

 be, they assuredly conserve it, holding water 

 in their deep mosses and mold, under thick 

 shade, which, if exposed to the direct rays 

 of the sun, would soon dry up. Torrential 

 rains, even, are taken into these natural res- 

 ervoirs and held for gradual distribution 

 during dryer months, keeping the streams 

 and springs alive, whereas, if they had 

 fallen on denuded ground, they would have 

 torn wide furrows in their rush to the sea, 

 carrying vast quantities of arable soil with 

 them. Under conditions like these, what 

 would Hawaii be worth? Already tens of 

 thousands of acres of watershed land have 

 lost their trees, the process beginning when 

 the old chiefs sold the sandalwood. Then 

 came the goats and wild cattle which ate and 

 are still eating the herbage over the shallow 

 rootage of forest growths, thus drying out 

 the moisture by which the trees subsist and 

 making conditions right for fires. Adding 

 to this the damage done by borers, insects 



