7i6 



CONSERVATION 



satisfactory, and an atmosphere of optimism 

 pervades the valley. 



The four-mile tunnel, an important fea- 

 ture of the Strawberry Valley project, Utah, 

 has been excavated 4,383 feet, the rate of 

 progress for September being 370 feet. 



The wonder-working miracle of mixing 

 water with the desert soil has been wrought 

 here. A settled, prosperous, and contented 

 community has been established, which from 

 this time on will take its place among the 

 best of the newly developed sections of the 

 West. To the Reclamation Service, the 

 most cheering feature is the complete har- 

 mony which prevails in the relations of the 

 local engineers and the farmers. The mu- 

 tuality of interests is recognized and all are 

 working together for the success of the 

 valley. The Service regards the North 

 Platte project as one of the best examples 

 of the wisdom of the Reclamation Act. 



Floods and Forests 



Maine has been stricken with great floods, 

 cloudbursts, and rivers overflowing. The ex- 

 tent of the damage, the amount of the loss, 

 cannot be accurately computed. Always fol- 

 lowing such outbursts of nature's fury there 

 is a train of loss and hardship which es- 

 capes the statistician. The lesson is none 

 the less plain, and it is that if the country 

 is not to lay itself open to many such ex- 

 periences as this of Maine a more effective 

 and comprehensive forestry policy and per- 

 formance must be attained. Boston (Mass.) 

 Advertiser. 



Enrollment in Pennsylvania State College 



Pennsylvania State College has enrolled 

 as forestry students ten seniors, twenty 

 juniors, forty sophomores, and over eighty 

 freshmen for the year 1909-10. 



Need for Protecting Pacific Coast Forests 



A member of the American Forestry As- 

 sociation writes : "There is great need for 

 protecting the remaining forests on the Pa- 

 cific coast south of San Francisco. 



"Santa Cruz County has a satisfactory 

 rainfall for our timber on the Santa Cruz 

 Mountains, but in all of California south 

 of our county the rainfall is irregular and 

 often _ fails altogether. The little remain- 

 ing timber in these mountains will be ex- 

 hausted in a few years. The result will, I 

 fear, be disastrous. The time has come to 

 act." 



Forestry Pamphlets 



The United States Forest Service and the 

 Bureau of the Census of the Department of 

 Commerce and Labor are cooperating in the 



preparation and publication of a series of 

 interesting pamphlets on Forest Products. 

 "The work is conducted under the direct 

 supervision of a committee of four, consisting 

 of W. M. Steuart, chief statistician for man- 

 ufactures, and J. E. Whelchel, expert chief 

 of division, representing the Bureau of the 

 Census, and R. S. Kellogg, assistant forester, 

 and A. H. Pierson, forest assistant, repre- 

 senting the Forest Service." 



Pamphlets recently published cover slack 

 cooperage stock, tanbark and tanning ex- 

 tracts, tight cooperage stock, wood distilla- 

 tion, cross ties purchased, and poles pur- 

 chased. 



Meeting of Connecticut Forestry Association 



A field meeting of the Connecticut For- 

 estry Association was held at the home of 

 Doctor Mathewson, "The Larches," south 

 Woodstock, Conn., on October 8. There 

 were forty-six members of the association 

 present. Prof. H. S. Graves, director of the 

 Yale Forest School, spoke upon "The Han- 

 dling of Woodlands." Mr. S. N. Spring, 

 who was appointed state forester of Con- 

 necticut on October i, addressed the meet- 

 ing on the subject of "Forest Plantations." 

 After the meeting an inspection was made of 

 the improvement thinnings in Doctor Math- 

 ewson's woodlot and an examination was 

 also made of his extensive larch plantation. 



The First National Forest in the United States 



Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson, associate 

 editor of the Century Magazine, criticises the 

 statement by Mr. Philip W. Ayres in CON- 

 SERVATION for October (page 608) that "Mr. 

 Cleveland established the first National 

 Forest." 



Mr. Johnson points out that "the first re- 

 serves were established by President Harri- 

 son through the efforts of his Secretary of 

 the Interior, Gen. John W. Noble, of St. 

 Louis, who is still living. Mr. Cleveland's 

 service to this great cause is not to be under- 

 estimated, but it is well to remember in 

 these days of its general acceptance the far- 

 sightedness displayed by Mr. Harrison and 

 General Noble, who were the first persons 

 officially to turn the face of the United States 

 in the right direction." 



Mr. Johnson is, of course, correct, as Mr. 

 Ayres will willingly concede. On March 30, 

 1891, President Harrison created the first 

 reserve, namely the Yellowstone Park Tim- 

 berland Reserve, while on February 22, 1897, 

 President Cleveland, upon the recommenda- 

 tion of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 created thirteen additional Forest Reserves, 

 of 21,379,840 acres. 



Mr. Ayres was, without doubt, distinguish- 

 ing between a National Park and a National 

 Forest. 



